WITH cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in South Korea jumping on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, the Philippine Government imposed a ban on travel by Filipino tourists to the East Asian country.
It also barred travelers from North Gyeongsang. Some 134 of the 169 new cases were reported in Daegu, a city in that South Korean province, while another 19 cases were reported in neighboring towns.
Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo warned that if the situation worsens, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases might expand the travel ban.
The Philippines already banned travelers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Travelers from South Korea and China registered as the top two tourist arrivals in the country, with almost two million from the former and 1.7 million from the latter in 2019.
The travel restrictions were bound to have an effect on the country’s economy, particularly in Cebu, where hotels and resorts saw a severe drop in hotel and resort occupancy.
According to the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu, occupancy levels are expected to plunge to 50 percent from an average of 90 percent for resort properties in March. It’s worse for hotels in the city, where occupancy levels are expected to nosedive to 25 percent from the 70 percent occupancy level in January.
Even those who rent out their condos, residences or properties on the online home-sharing platform Airbnb have been feeling the crunch, reporting many cancellations or lack of bookings compared to the same period last year.
The travel bans and the Covid-19 threat have had a domino effect across the province’s entire hospitality sector, prompting Cebu’s business community to come up with recommendations to avoid a collapse, including “allowing workers to go on leave without pay, suspending provisions of agreements with labor unions and granting a reprieve on amortization, a six-month rental holiday to businesses and tax rebates and incentives.”