What was supposed to be a year of record-breaking numbers for the Philippine tourism sector turned out to be one of the most challenging times it has ever faced.
The coronavirus disease or COVID-19 pandemic practically shut down tourism industries across the globe this year, with the imposition of various travel restrictions, leaving millions of workers affected. As it is still uncertain when international travel will return to pre-pandemic levels, the projections and plans of the Philippine tourism sector for the coming years have been shattered.
Despite this, the local tourism sector has proven that there is one thing that no pandemic can destroy – its bayanihan spirit.
“The year 2020 was supposed to be another landmark year for Philippine tourism, based on talks with our partners in the various international markets and actual bookings we had already been receiving late last year,” Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) Jose Clemente III told The STAR.
“However, with the pandemic and the ensuing stoppage of global tourism, all plans and projections went out the window. To say that this has been a dismal year for the Philippine tourism sector is a gross understatement. The industry has been shattered by the pandemic, with the future still unclear,” he added.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said with the tourism industry being one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, and with quite a number of destinations still closed to the public, it would be futile to assess its performance based on revenue and arrivals.
“Instead I would like to dwell on how the tourism industry worked together to provide genuine care and hospitality to stranded tourists, frontliners and balikbayans at the height of the pandemic,”Puyat told The STAR.
“With the monumental task of securing rooms and implementing health and safety protocols in such a short time while providing food, shelter and communication between embassies, I’d say the sector has performed exceptionally well in delivering the Filipino brand of service beyond normal operations,” she added.
A bright start for the year
The tourism sector began 2020 with high hopes of breaking last year’s visitor arrivals record of 8.2 million.
The country was targeting to register 9.2 million foreign arrivals by the end of 2020, a 15 percent growth from the year before.
And it seemed like the Philippines was on track to meet this goal in January, as foreign visitor arrivals grew 8.84 percent to 787,307 arrivals, data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed.
However, the figures started to take a downturn in February, when the travel ban on Chinese tourists began, leaving the country with a 45.48 percent drop in 418,126 arrivals.
The declines further extended in March, with the ban on international travel as community quarantines across the country commenced.
Latest data from the DOT show that international visitor arrivals from January to November registered at 1.3 million, an 82. 4 percent drop from the 7.4 million arrivals in the same period last year.
This translated to an 81.5 percent drop in tourist receipts in the same period to P81.05 billion.
Reeling from the impact of the pandemic
As no one was prepared for the pandemic, both the government as well as industry stakeholders were at a loss as to what to do when the lockdowns began.
“There was no guidebook on how to navigate this crisis and emerge without a scratch. Each decision was made based on the knowledge that we had during that time,”Puyat said.
Clemente said the lack of a comprehensive plan by the government to help the tourism industry in light of the current situation was something that really hurt the stakeholders.
“When the lockdowns first started, the tourism industry was basically left to fend for itself. In comparison to our neighboring countries, it seemed that tourism was an afterthought as far as assistance was concerned,”Clemente said.
Clemente, however, emphasized that the DOT and its attached agencies have been there to assist them with matters that are under their purview.
“While other governments quickly recognized the possible effects of a collapse of the industry and instituted stopgap measures, there was close to nothing for us here. It was only basically the DOT with the stakeholders who had to fight for whatever we got from Bayanihan 2,”he added.
Over 50 tourism associations earlier urged the bicameral conference committee in Congress to re-examine the tourism sector’s P10-billion allocation under the Bayanihan 2 bill as the House version placed the budget for infrastructure projects under the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority(TIEZA).
Ultimately, the tourism industry was allocated P10.1 billion under Bayanihan 2, P3 billion of which will be allocated for the implementation of cash assistance for displaced tourism workers or employees, P1 billion for the tourism road infrastructure program of the Department of Public Works and Highways(DPWH) and P6 billion for a loan program for tourism micro,small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.).
Better appreciation for the industry
While the pandemic taught various industries many lessons, Clemente shared that one lesson the pandemic has brought is the importance of the tourism industry on the Philippine economy.
“The effects of the global halt has taken away almost 13 pandemic of the country’s GDP, almost P4 billion in revenues and more importantly, almost 5 million jobs affected,” Clemente said.
“While a lot of the recovery of this industry is dependent on how the country world will control the pandemic, the importance of travel and tourism cannot be and should not be understated. We now know that should a similar situation come to pass in the future, tourism must be given the appropriate resources to stave off effects,” Clemente added.
Meanwhile, the TCP official emphasized that the industry has also learned that tourism not only aids the economy but has also become essential to the mental and physical well-being of people and can no longer be categorized as merely a leisure activity, but rather something that is part of our lives.
“In this regard, more importance should be given to the industry and its stakeholders. The overwhelming cry for people to travel just shows how embedded it is with everyone,” Clemente said.
Puyat affirmed the interest of people for travel, sharing results of a survey conducted by the DOT earlier this year, 77 percent of respondents said they were willing to travel even in the absence of a vaccine, as long as health standards and disinfecting protocols are applied.
“We have gotten so many queries from Filipinos on when certain destinations would be open and a lot more from foreigners on when the Philippines will lift its travel restrictions. Nothing can stop people from wanting to travel and it is our duty to ensure that their journeys are safe,”Puyat said.
In addition, Puyat emphasized that another lesson learned by the industry this year is the importance of maintaining a high standard of cleanliness, readiness and service.
“These are the qualities that our DOT-accredited establishments had even before the pandemic, and they adapted faster and better to the changes brought about by the community quarantines compared to the rest,”Puyat said.
Room for improvement
Fernando Roxas, executive director of the Asian Institute of Management Dr. Andrew Tan Center for Tourism, said the pandemic has exposed all the weaknesses of the tourism sector such as infrastructure, health protocols as well as a fragmented value chain, among others.
“And if we don’t redesign these value chains, we will remain susceptible to each pandemic,” Roxas said.
In order to redesign value chains, Roxas said there is a need for the collection of data as well as expressed collaboration among the value chain members.
“We cannot hope to restructure the governance system from destination level to the value chain level without data and the expressed collaboration among the value chain members. If we can’t do this, then the industry will remain to be paralyzed,” he added.
Moveover, Roxas said there is a need to redesign tourism products and services to lower tourism density as well as transfer the governance system from destination level to the value chain level.
“Cheaper and faster test results will also be a great help,” he said.
Spirit of bayanihan
Despite the struggles experienced by the tourism industry this year, both the industry stakeholders and the DOT agree that the bayanihan spirit is among the strengths presented by the industry during the pandemic, and will remain vital in its recovery.
“The strength of the tourism sector has been primarily its desire to survive the pandemic. Stakeholders have been helping one another to weather the effects on tourism. Whether it be through morale support or financial or through any other means, we’ve seen stakeholders set aside other issues so that we can survive,” Clemente said.
“The bayanihan spirit is alive and well in the industry,” he said.
Clemente said that a great lesson that the pandemic has taught the industry is that there is no substitute to cohesive partnership between the government and the private sector especially in times like these.
“The Department of Tourism has been working and coordinating with not only the Tourism Congress but with several associations to see to the needs of the stakeholders. It is only through the sharing of information can crises like these be tackled effectively,” he added.
For her part, Puyat echoed Clemente’s sentiments, emphasizing that this is the biggest strength of the industry this year.
“Our biggest strength this year was our Bayanihan spirit; working together towards a unified goal, whether it was helping our stranded tourists, frontliners and balikbayans or safely reopening our destinations to restore the jobs and livelihoods lost to the pandemic,” Puyat said.
“Such a feat of close and constant cooperation and collaboration between various businesses, brands, local governments and communities for the recovery of the sector has never been realized prior to this year,”she said.
Moving forward, Puyat said it would be essential for the DOT to further strengthen its convergence and partnerships with national government agencies, LGUs, and the private sector.
“We need the bayanihan spirit more than ever to ensure the success of initiatives targeting policy and tourism planning and development, human capital standards and regulations, marketing and promotions, and investments,” the tourism chief said.