FRANK Carbon, executive director of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said several hotels and restaurants in Bacolod City have expressed their readiness to accept tourists.
This as the number of Covid-19 cases in the city continues to drop drastically and that 19 barangays have been declared Covid-19-free.
Resorts and restaurants in the city have already complied with protocols set by the National Inter-Agency Task Force to maintain the minimum health protocols in their respective commercial establishments.
Carbon said tourists are still having a hard time visiting Bacolod City due to the lack of commercial trips for fast craft, and roll-on/roll-off vessels due to some health protocols.
Despite the noted setbacks, Carbon has expressed confidence that with the city potentially being downgraded to the less strict modified general community quarantine next month, commercial trips would return and tourists will start to trickle again into the city.
Philippine Coast Guard Negros Occidental Chief Lieutenant Commander Jansen Benjamin earlier said there are no more travel restrictions for residents of Iloilo City who want to travel to Bacolod City and vice versa.
Residents of both cities, however, are required to register with the BacTrac system when traveling between the two cities.
The Iloilo province continues to impose stricter rules, treating those arriving like locally stranded individuals, Carbon also revealed.
The shipping industry has been asking the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for uniform health protocols imposed by the LGUs all over Western Visayas for economic recovery.