TOURIST spots in the province of Negros Occidental strive to survive economically in times of the coronavirus pandemic after they obtained a "green light" to initiate a "restart" of operation from the Department of Tourism and the Department of Health Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
However, despite the go signal, domestic tourists still hesitate to come to enjoy due to the risk of the Covid-19, thus the challenge is still crashing business establishments with a very limited number of guests coming to their places as against their daily operational costs that cover payment of employees' salary and benefits, electricity, water, including other operational and maintenance costs.
Campuestohan Highland Resort likewise felt the significant decline in tourists' foot traffic as compared to the previous figures of their guests who cascaded to their place.
But in order to commence a transition to a new normal, they have to operate as a show of cooperation to the wishes of the government to start stirring the local economy as long as the standard health protocol of wearing a face mask, social distancing and sanitizing hands among others should be observed.
Businesses, whether they operate or not, would still pay the salaries of their regular workers, thus it pushed others to operate under a new normal condition with fewer guests or clients coming in which could not even cover a scant part of the overall operational costs.
The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by businessman Frank Carbon has even pushed a little further by requesting to extend the start of the curfew from 10 p.m. to 12 midnight in order to provide businesses a little breather for those who stay out late.
This is all to help pump the economy as more and more people lose their jobs with a crucial decline in tourism-related services.
Belt-tightening still prevails among the locals as uncertainties still swell each day.
On the side of the management of Campuestohan highland resort, they will continue to operate despite the challenges only to continue providing employment for their workers and also to show cooperation to the government's mandate to re-open with the observance of the health protocol.