DISCOUNTS for fully-vaccinated customers.

This is now the call among business establishments in Western Visayas in an effort to help achieve herd immunity through strengthened coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination rollout.

Frank Carbon, vice president of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) for the Visayas, said they are encouraging businesses in the region to offer discounts to individuals who have completed their vaccination against Covid-19.

Carbon, also the chief executive officer of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said businesses should help local officials eliminate the menace.

"We want to reach herd immunity before Christmas," he said, adding that "once we reach herd immunity, businesses will have the confidence to reinvest and reopen."

The business leader stressed that this will also enable the sector to generate the much-needed jobs to restart the economy in the region.

"Investments beget investments and money begets money," the PCCI official also said, adding that the election money and Christmas spending will boost consumption -- the main driver of the economy.

In Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, several establishments including malls and fast-food chains are already offering discounts to fully-inoculated customers.

For the local business sector, the move will encourage the government officials to match the reinvestment money by spending heavily on construction to create more employment and infuse liquidity.

He said private and public banks will regain their confidence to reopen the lending windows.

Carbon said somebody has to take the risk to ignite the reinvestment fire.

"And, we have no choice, at this point, we have to take that big risk," he added.

Moreover, the business leader is calling on the government, specifically the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Tourism (DOT), to issue a "safe place" sticker and allow businesses to accommodate more customers.

Through this, the public might develop a "safe feeling" and prioritize "safe place" establishments, Carbon said.

In Boracay Island in Aklan, the DOT has started issuing "safe place" stickers.

"We want it called 'safe place' so the message is direct and inviting to customers," he said, stressing that "correct messaging is very important to marketing and this is now a marketing game.