THE Department of Tourism (DOT) has postponed the nationwide shopping sale intended to start on Sunday, March 1, amid fears on the rising global cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“The DOT maintains its stance to prioritize the safety of its citizens more than visitor arrivals and revenue,” the agency said in a statement Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020.
The DOT has coordinated with mall operators and “is thankful for their support on the decision to postpone the nationwide sale to a later date for the safety of their customers.”
The malls are still free to continue their day-to-day operations.
The DOT also recommends that malls follow the precautionary measures set by the Department of Health, such as checking temperatures of mall goers before allowing them to enter and providing more hand sanitizers in their premises.
“As much as we want to mitigate the economic impact of the Covid-19, the safety of our citizens remains our priority. We advise the general public to maintain proper hygiene and follow the guidelines set by the DOH to contain the spread of the virus,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
Major malls across the country were supposed to participate in the monthlong “The 2020 Philippine Shopping Festival” this March, a move seen to reinvigorate the retail sector hit by the virus scare.
Robert Go, spokesman at the Philippine Retailers Association in Cebu, noted the dwindling traffic in shopping centers amid the outbreak.
Go noted that boosting domestic tourism could help offset losses incurred by retailers.
“We are hoping the government can lower landing fees of airports and fuel taxes of planes, which should lower ticket prices to help boost local tourism to improve in lieu of the dwindling foreign arrivals. Thus, this can improve the traffic of retail malls in Cebu,” said Go.
The Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (Hrrac) has also confirmed that some hotels have imposed unpaid days off on some of their workers as business suffers from dismal occupancy.
However, Hrrac vice president Alfred Reyes said there have been no reports of retrenchment yet involving hotel employees.
“Each property has a different approach in handling its cost on how to save employees,” he said.
Some hotels have been forced to implement the measure as they try to offset losses incurred as a result of low occupancy.
Hard times for the hospitality sector started after the government imposed travel restrictions on travelers from China and South Korea, Cebu’s two biggest sources of foreign guests.
He said the industry expected as much as a 60 percent drop in occupancy amid the virus scare.
Meanwhile, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Virgilio Espeleta has urged companies “to continue operating even at breakeven levels or subsidize operations to keep the business going.”
“They must exhaust all venues to keep their workers in the payroll instead of resorting to layoffs,” he said, citing options such as leave without pay, a shorter workweek, using people on special projects and conducting maintenance or renovations, among others.
As of 10 a.m. Saturday, no new confirmed Covid-19 patients were confined anywhere in the country although the Department of Health continued to monitor a total of 627 cases nationwide.
Of the number, 591 had been discharged from medical facilities but were still being monitored, while 33 patients under investigation (PUIs) remained in isolation in various hospitals.
The only three confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country—the 38-year-old woman from Wuhan, China; her 44-year-old male partner who died; and the 60-year-old Chinese woman who already returned to China—were included in the tally.
In Central Visayas, only one of 61 PUIs is still confined in a hospital.
PUIs are those who recently traveled to mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong or had contact with persons positive of the Covid-19 and manifest the symptoms of the virus.
To prevent the spread of the disease in schools, the DOH on Friday recommended that schools prepare a room where they could put any persons showing symptoms of Covid-19 while in the premises. / WBS