Tourism office strengthens resort monitoring

Photo from Freepik
Photo from Freepik

THE Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) will further intensify its monitoring in all beach resorts and other inland water resorts in the city after they recommended the closure of an inland resort for violating the imposed health protocols.

CTOO Head Generose Tecson said her team conducted an inspection two weeks ago on an inland resort within a hotel in Toril.

Tecson said the hotel, which she did not disclose, was supposed to be closed after given a cease and desist order from the City Business Bureau for operating without business permit.

"But nung dumaan ‘yung team ko, nakita nila they were open, and they found out na puno yung pool, may mga taong nag-iinuman (When my team went to the area, they saw that the hotel continues to operate and they found out that there were a lot of people in the pool and they saw a lot of people drinking liquor),” Tecson told SunStar Davao in a phone interview on Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

The official said more than 60 guests were spotted during the inspection, which exceeded the 25 guest limit for mass gathering. Aside from that, guests violated the 24-hour liquor ban, currently imposed in the city until May 31.

She said the Business Bureau will be filing charges against the resort owner.

As of Tuesday, May 4, Tecson said they have not yet received reports of other resorts and other establishments that violated the health protocols.

Meanwhile, she said they are continuously monitoring different tourism establishments, in coordination with other monitoring teams, which include the Business Bureau, Integrated Gender and Development Division, and tourist police, to check the observance of the minimum health protocols.

"When we go around, for as long as merong business permit and City Tourism certificate, we try to help adjust, and remind them dun sa (of the) health protocols. Pero pag masyado nang (But if we noticed that is too much) blatant, we report that to the Business Bureau," Tecson said.

The CTOO is planning to intensify its monitoring and inspection in far flung areas especially in Marilog District after noticing that around 90 percent of tourism establishments there do not have business permits.

Tecson said they are currently discussing the measures to be conducted during their inspection and they are expected to come up within the week.

She also reminded private resorts to strictly limit the number of guests to be allowed inside so that social distancing will be observed.

She also reminded resorts and other tourism establishments to require advance booking and prohibit walk-in guests.

For now, Tecson said the city is not planning to require all tourist guests to secure reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results despite being included in the guidelines of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Meanwhile, Tecson said the city's tourism is slowly reopening after more than a year since the pandemic hit. The tourism sector, she said, was the most gravely affected when the city imposed tight restrictions during the early days of the quarantine.

But she reminded the public to be cautious and continue to observe the minimum protocols as most transmissions were recorded on gatherings.

"Nandiyan pa rin ang Covid[-19]. Hindi pa siya umaalis. Ngayon nagbabantay kami kasi ubay-ubay na umaakyat 'yung ating mga positive (Covid-19 is still there. It hasn’t gone. We are currently monitoring tourist establishments since positive cases are slowly increasing) although in small increment. Pagdating sa mga gatherings, ingat-ingat po tayo kasi karamihan na nagpa-positive, galing sa mga gatherings (We remind the people to be cautious since most cases were recorded in gatherings)," Tecson said.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph