In a bid to sustain the recovery of the tourism industry, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has allowed the operation of 7,200 hotels, resorts and other accommodation establishments (AEs) to operate under different quarantine classifications and cater to different types of travelers, depending on their location and purpose.
(Tara Yap / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The tourism chief announced that Region 4-A currently has the highest number of hotels and resorts issued with Certificate of Authority to Operate (CAO) and provisional CAO with 1,303, followed by Region 3 with 830, and Region 1 with 806.
“Not only will a Certificate of Authority to Operate or a provisional CAO from DOT indicate the allowable operation of accommodation establishments, it likewise adds to guests’ confidence, knowing that these establishments have been inspected and are compliant with our protocols that follow globally-recognized health and safety standards,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
“We are happy to see the numbers go up as more tourism destinations reopen for domestic travelers,” she added.
The DOT has been issuing CAOs and PCAOs to establishments since the onset of quarantine restrictions in March to accommodate repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), returning Filipinos, as well as essential workers and foreign and domestic tourists stranded due to travel restrictions.
With inbound travel to the Philippines for tourism remains restricted, Puyat also said the DOT will continue its coordination with national government agencies under the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), local government units (LGUs), and stakeholders to safely reopen more destinations for domestic tourism, and steer the industry to recovery.
Currently, only major destinations have expanded its reopening to domestic tourism which includes Boracay, Baguio, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Palawan.
“The DOT’s focus is to jumpstart domestic tourism first. We will continue our thorough inspection of the health and safety protocols in tourism establishments, so when non-essential travel among Filipinos and even inbound travel for leisure among foreign visitors are allowed, these will be ready,” Puyat said.
The tourism chief likewise encourages accommodation and other tourism-related establishments to apply for DOT accreditation which remains free-of-charge and can now be done online through an Online Accreditation System that the agency launched in September.