A TOTAL of 281 tourism-related establishments in Northern Mindanao now have the authority to operate, the regional National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) reported on Friday, September 25.

According to Leonila Cajarte, the assistant regional director of Neda, in the five provinces of the region, 106 tourism-related establishments have certificates of authority to operate, eight are ongoing compliance and 15 are non-operating establishments.

In the cities, 175 tourism-related establishments have the certificate of authority to operate, 16 have ongoing compliance and 73 are non-operating establishments.

Cajarte further said there are no kids and amusement parks that permanently closed, however, due to the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force, these establishments are physically closed.

"Although kaning atong mga amusements parks and play centers physically closed, wala sila makaabri, pero they shifted to online," Cajarte added.

She also said they have presented initial recommendations to help the tourism sector during their meeting last week with the task force and the tourism players.

These recommendations include identifying local travel bubble connectivity and markets and coming up with well-defined and harmonized operational guidelines for travel and tourism in Northern Mindanao.