It’s supposed to be a stimulus package, to bail out troubled industries and pave the way for the recovery of an economy that has been battered by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
But now players in one of the sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis are lamenting that their bailout has been stricken out of the P162-billion Bayanihan to Recover as One Act that was passed by the House of Representatives.
In a letter to the two chambers of Congress, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines and other major tourism organizations pointed out that the original proposal under the stimulus package was a P10-billion assistance for the industry, to be administered by the Department of Tourism. The recently passed House Bill 6953, however, allocated the P10 billion specifically to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, whose mandate focuses, as the name implies, on tourism-related infrastructure and the regulation of tourism enterprise zones.
The industry players pointed out that before the pandemic, the tourism sector contributed 12.7 percent of gross domestic product, accounting for 13.5 percent of national employment.
In their letter, the industry players pointed out: “The tourism industry has been effectively shut down since mid-March due to large sections of the country under various degrees of quarantine, the closure of airports to all but the most essential of travel, and the general reluctance of the public to resume travel because of both the public health emergency and the financial impact of the lockdown, hence, there are no tourists and revenues. Even as various tourism players expect some revival in 2021, this must be reconciled with the fact that tourists themselves will only resume travel between six months to two years from the lifting of quarantines, with a majority of potential tourists saying they will not resume traveling until a vaccine becomes widely available. And while there is some anticipation in vaccine availability by early 2021, no one really knows whether these vaccines will be safe and effective, and when they might reach the Philippines.”
The original proposal was to provide tourism-related enterprises with assistance including low-interest subsidies and loans or loan guarantees, credit facilities for upgrading to comply with new health standards, and support in marketing and product development.
Bayanihan 2 is still going to be deliberated in the bicameral conference. It is not yet too late to restore the assistance to one of the sectors most impacted by the pandemic.