THE Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) has called for the mounting of more international flights for repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to help the ailing hospitality sector.
Specifically, in a letter addresed to the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority, GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., Overseas Workers Welfare Association and the Deparment of Tourism (DOT) 7, the HRRAC urged the concerned parties to lodge these returning OFWs in accredited accommodation properties during their mandatory 14-day quarantine.
“More international flights should be made available to Cebu for thousands of repatriated OFWS, and for these OFWS upon arriving shall only be billeted or allowed to stay in DOT and Department of Health accredited hotels under very strict health protocols,” the HRRAC said.
“By doing so, it will give the hospitality industry in Cebu that much needed shot in the arm by providing jobs and opportunities. Not only that, HRRAC has implemented strict health protocols which may not be provided by non-accredited hotels and similar establishments,” the association stressed.
Under the current setup, the hospitality sector continues to operate only for select markets.
Based on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases guidelines, the accommodation sector can only accept those who have existing bookings for foreigners as of May 1, 2020 (for areas outside Luzon), guests who already have long-term bookings, repatriated OFWs, stranded foreign nationals, non-OFWs who are required to undergo a mandatory facility-based quarantine and frontline healthcare workers and other employees from exempted establishments approved by the national government.
HRRAC said such policy is not enough for players to sustainably operate and recover their losses.
“This is the time that we have to come to terms with the fact that this war is long and vicious, and our government must implement a new tact on how it will be responding to this viral threat in the future. We cannot be on lockdown and quarantine for a long time. Balance has to be made,” HRRAC said.
HRRAC said the pandemic impacted all sectors of society in a way that no one ever expected.The pandemic has caused “deaths, sickness, tens of thousands jobless, businesses lost and closed, income foregone, economy that is almost to a halt.”