The Philippines has shown the international community it can be decisive and brave enough to lead in the reopening of borders, even as bigger and more prepared economies chose to continue shutting down theirs.
But the reopening is not without safeguards, the government calibrates this move, initially allowing only the entry of fully vaccinated tourists from 157 visa-free countries.
This move augurs well for the devastated tourism industry, the hardest hit in the country. Tourism was just starting to flourish in the country and foreign tourists were just discovering our unique features when the pandemic hit and put the Philippines in a constant balancing act between health and livelihood.
The government has also ramped up vaccination drives. In fact, the tourism industry boasted of high vaccination rate of its frontliners.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) reported that as of the first week this month, 92.51 percent or 317,892 out of 349,534 tourism workers have received their COVID-19 jabs.
Tourism destinations with 100 percent vaccination rate among its tourism workers include: Baguio City; Aurora; Palawan towns Coron, El Nido and San Vicente; Puerto Princesa City, and Camiguin island. The DOT offices are also facilitating the roll-out of booster shots for eligible tourism workers.
On a regional basis, the National Capital Region (NCR) registered the highest coverage for tourism workers with 99.91 percent vaccination rate.
In addition, the number of infections in the country has been on a declining trend. Projections showed, COVID-19 cases could further go down to a very manageable level 1,000 to 2,000 cases by the end of this month and less than 500 in the NCR by Valentine’s Day. Remember, we came from an alarming rate of over 30,000 daily cases in the first month this year.
Indeed, the number looks good.
The private sector has also thrown its full support for the government decision despite admitting that it takes a lot of effort to get their engines running again after almost two years of dormancy. Already, some sectors in the industry are shooting for government financing lifeline.
During the pandemic, most hotels had been tapped as quarantine facilities for long staying guests, OFWs, and BPO workers. With the lifting of quarantine restrictions, hotels are gearing to shift to their primary business operations and cater to leisure tourists.
Although tourism players do not expect immediate return of foreign tourists in at least the next two months, they, too, declared their readiness to welcome visitors. But, definitely, tourists are sure to come back within the year.
Tourism facilities, including events venues, are cooperating by not raising their rates. All they want is to bring the volume back to the pre-COVID level in 2019, revenues can wait.
What is important is to build the confidence that we can reopen safely by strictly enforcing health and safety protocols because the virus is here to stay. We have to live with the virus.
By being able to build the confidence means continued reopening that should translate to more jobs and more revenues.