WHEN the Covid-19 pandemic struck, one of the most badly hit sectors was the tourism industry. With the closing of borders and as land, air and sea travels were brought to a screeching halt, tourism services and accommodations had to temporarily cease operations, resulting in layoffs and/or changes in staffing.
In a congressional hearing in February 2021, Department of Tourism (DOT) officer-in-charge Undersecretary Roberto Alabado reported that the Philippines lost about P400 billion in tourism revenue in 2020 after foreign tourist arrivals plunged to 1.3 million, which was a far cry from the 8.3 million foreign visitors recorded in 2019.
With the travel restrictions amid the lockdowns nationwide, about 5.7 million jobs in the tourism sector have been affected. Hence the need to revive the tourism industry. "Domestic travel" and "hyperlocal travel" have been the buzzwords as of late, and the DOT has been promoting various Philippine destinations day in, day out.
Apart from that, the DOT has been pushing for vaccine rollout especially among tourism-related workers. That is why the "Bakuna by the Sea," a vaccination program organized by Davao's tourism stakeholders for travel and hospitality employees, did not go unnoticed.
The "Bakuna by the Sea" was held at the seaside tropical garden of the Waterfront Insular Hotel Pavilion from June 30 to July 11, 2021. It allocated 28,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine for the initial 14,000 tourism workers, including those in the A4 priority group. As of July 21, 11,076 tourism workers have already been vaccinated.
Lauding the innovative initiative, Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat thanked the private sector for organizing it in order to further spur the recovery of tourism in Davao. She also thanked Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for including tourism industry workers on the city's vaccination priority list.
"I would like to congratulate the Davao Tourism Association for working with the City Government of Davao to start inoculating our tourism workers. The recent designation of the NCR Plus area as a low-risk area is a welcome sign that the national vaccination program is working, and we hope to see this replicated in Davao as soon as possible," Puyat said in a video message, thanking the hotel management for also lending a hand in the program.
“This special vaccination program for tourism workers should be replicated across the country. I hope that other local government units in the country will follow suit so we can bring back the thousands of tourism jobs that were lost amid the pandemic," she added.
"Let us remember that we are a community, and we are not just protecting ourselves but the people around us. As tourism workers who have to interact with so many different people face to face, your health and safety are important. This is a pivotal step in the road to recovery as we need to do it together," the tourism chief added.
Meanwhile, tourism industry frontliners in Bohol were inoculated against Covid-19 on the first week of July after the arrival of 10,000 doses of the Gamaleya Sputnik V. This was initiated by the National Task Force against Covid-19 through the DOT, targeting 5,000 tourism workers on the island.
As of July 15, 2021, 23,907 tourism workers have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
For more information on the country's tourism and efforts in curbing Covid-19 transmission, one can visit the DOT's website at tourism.gov.ph. SPONSORED CONTENT