IN CEBU and other cities, events such as conferences, festivals and other activities that involve the gathering of a large number of people are being cancelled amid fears of the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the country.
While the government’s economic team is downplaying the financial impact of the respiratory disease outbreak caused by the 2019-nCoV, Cebu’s tourism industry stakeholders are trying to cope with losses arising from the cancellation of reservations and bookings.
The Hotel Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu Inc. (HRRACI) said the hospitality industry is “experiencing serious financial losses as expected of cancellation of reservations and bookings, flight cancellations/less passenger load as this is the first casualty in the tourism industry.”
The 2019-nCoV scare has also caused the cancellation of events usually attended by residents, visiting family members or balikbayans and foreign tourists. Among them are the Sarok Festival on Feb. 6, 2020, in Consolacion town, Cebu; the Sinulog grand parade this Sunday, Feb. 9, for Talisay City’s Sto. Niño fiesta; and the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association or CVIRAA on Feb. 23 to 29 in Dumaguete City.
More cancellations and a tourism slowdown are expected in the cities of Baguio, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Pampanga.
In a statement on its social media account, the HRRACI said association members are “working together amongst themselves and closely coordinating with our government to address this very serious concern.” The HRRACI has required its 100 member-hotels to purchase thermal guns to monitor guests.
The disease outbreak had compelled President Rodrigo Duterte to temporarily ban Chinese tourists and other foreign travelers coming from China. The Chinese comprise the Philippines’ second biggest tourism market. As of November 2019, Chinese arrivals in the country reached 1.625 million.
In Cebu, China was the second top foreign source market in Central Visayas in 2018 with 621,993 tourists, up 44.28 percent from 2017’s 429,306 visitors. Last year, Chinese tourists in the region reached over 700,000.
Foreign arrivals to Cebu are likely to tumble in the first quarter of 2020 due to travel restrictions from China, the second biggest tourist market for the province. Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists president Alice Queblatin said, “Arrivals in general for the first quarter will drop as a logical consequence.”
But for the government’s economic team, there is little impact of the 2019-nCoV on business.
The P112 billion Chinese spending in the Philippines is about a fourth of the estimated average inbound tourism spending of P450 billion, which Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said accounts for only 5.0 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Benjamin E. Diokno also said the outbreak could reduce 2020 GDP by only about a third of a percentage point, or 0.3 percentage point, on the average.
Francisco Dakila Jr., BSP deputy governor for the Monetary and Economics Sector, said the impact of the outbreak is expected to last only for a few months as he noted that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), which was also caused by a coronavirus, lasted only about two quarters in 2003.
The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) noted strong export activities to economic powerhouses like Japan and the United States after the new disease hit China. “The Philippines became an option for other countries to supply their goods. If they are not taking orders from China, they have to go to other sources,” Philexport Cebu executive director Fred Escalona said. Escalona saw this as the other countries’ way of tapping new sources aside from China.
Concerns over the disease outbreak, however, have caused the cancellation of events that usually draw thousands of tourists.
In Cebu, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is leaving it to the town mayors to cancel their festivals. So far, Consolacion cancelled its Sarok Festival activities. Talisay City is cancelling its Sto. Niño de Cebu festival and Sinulog grand parade this Sunday, Feb. 9. Nightly activities are also cancelled. Only the fluvial and solemn procession today, Saturday, are proceeding.
As of Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, the DOH has confirmed three cases of 2019-nCoV infection in the Philippines. All three Chinese nationals - 44-year-old man, 38-year-old woman and 60-year-old woman entered the Philippines through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. (Marites V. Ilano with reports from SunStar Bacolod, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Pampanga / CSL, JOB, KFD, ANV, FMD)