THE catchphrase for last week was survival. The survival of business and industry amid the financial slowdown is a concern since the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to spread.
“Way maayong laki karon. (There’s no better person now.) It’s about survival now,” Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Virgilio Espeleta said. It’s the same line being mouthed by others in industry.
As another trade leader said, the survival of business is important because it also spells the survival of workers and their families and the public served by the company.
SunStar Cebu reported about how companies are bracing themselves for a significant hit on their revenues. Hotels in the city, for example, are already estimating a 60 percent drop in their occupancy rates. The CCCI came up with a bag of solutions it is recommending for all sectors – the labor sector, banking institutions, commercial and mall space owners, utility companies, industry players and government agencies.
Among its recommendations are the suspension of collective bargaining agreement provisions as a survival measure, a six-month rental holiday and a moratorium on late payment penalties or notice of disconnection of power and water lines.
These are all good except there is no mention of the individual. These survival measures being drawn up have to be brought down to the level of the individual. It would be helpful to get a list of recommendations on how an individual or individual family could cope with the slowdown and the threats of closure or joblessness. We might as well talk survival.
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Domestic tourism is another phrase being talked about as a way to rescue the industry. With travel restrictions and flight cancellations, airlines and stakeholders of the tourism industry are suffering.
The Philippine Airlines had to let go of 300 personnel in a business restructuring program. Tour guides and motorbanca operators in Lapu-Lapu City are getting assistance, including food packs, to help them in their daily subsistence.
The Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu Inc. described the situation as this – from a healthy occupancy at the start of the year averaging 90 percent, they expect occupancy levels to nosedive to 50 percent for resort properties in March due to the lingering effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. For city hotels, the projection is from a 70 percent occupancy level at the start of the year to 25 percent in March.
The sector is promoting domestic tourism as a way to keep the industry afloat. Domestic tourism refers to Filipinos traveling within the country to vacation spots or for business. It includes the practice of “staycation” such as checking into a local hotel to enjoy its facilities.
Hotels and restaurants have started bringing down their rates, even for their buffet, to entice the local market. Services or attractions are now accessible because of promos and freebies.
That’s something positive in this time of the Covid-19.