SOME 88 workers in identified hotel isolation or quarantine facilities in Tacloban City were inoculated with vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) after the Department of Tourism (DOT) pushed that they be part of the priority group.
“As we move onwards and prepare for a Responsible Tourism Restart for Safe Trips in Eastern Visayas, the DOT8 strongly urges our tourism workers, both frontline and back-office personnel, to have themselves vaccinated,” said DOT-Eastern Visayas Director Karina Rosa Tiopes.
“Being fully vaccinated will not only protect hotel workers and their family but would also help increase visitor confidence to travel again as this will reassure guests of their health safety as well. Ultimately, having a fully vaccinated tourism workforce in the region will contribute greatly to the tourism industry restart and strengthen the local economy,” Tiopes added.
According to the tourism official, the services that were given by tourism frontliners “also help government in the management of Covid-19 cases.”
In Eastern Visayas, a total of 21 accommodation establishments are being used as isolation or quarantine facilities with about 428 workers, of which 44 percent comes from the seven facilities in Tacloban.
Of the 428 hotel frontline workers, only 35 percent are fully vaccinated while 44 percent had received their first dose, according to the regional tourism office.
The National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 previously categorized hotel frontline workers under priority group A4.
Their category was changed to priority group A1.3 after DOT Secretary Bernadette Puyat sent a letter to NTF requesting to change their category particularly those who are working in accommodation facilities that are used as quarantine and isolation facilities. (SunStar Philippines)