HRRAC SETS SIGHTS ON TOURISM RECOVERY
The Department of Tourism welcomes the reactivation of tourist police units in areas where quarantine restrictions have been eased
WITH the situation the hotel industry is facing right now, the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) is looking to recover early next year.
Carlo Suarez, president of HRRAC, said some of their members have remained open after being accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 to cater to the available markets.
“We hope to recover next year. Some of our hotel members temporarily closed and others remain partially open,” he said.
Suarez said the industry will still be in survival mode until December this year.
“We are banking on the domestic market and hopefully, more guests would stay in the hotels,” he said.
Hotel owners are still adopting a wait-and-see attitude considering the limited market they can cater to and the extended enhanced community quarantine status of Cebu City.
As of now, some hotels cater to overseas Filipino workers and locally stranded individuals among others.
In general community quarantine areas like Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities, Suarez noted that the domestic market is slowly coming gradually and locals are staying in hotels and resorts.
The DOT issued the interim guidelines for application for accreditation for tourism enterprises on June 13, 2020.
The guidelines cover hotels, resorts, apartment hotels, Mabuhay accommodations and homestays.
As part of the accreditation process and to ensure that it complies with minimum public health standards, the applicant shall allow the physical or virtual inspection of its premises.
The DOT in Central Visayas recently said it continues to process applications for accreditation of tourism enterprises that decided to open despite the community quarantines.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat said the tourism industry will recover well from months of quarantine and restore the jobs lost by millions of Filipinos dependent on the industry.
The recent easing of quarantine restrictions in some regions of the country has created a stir among industry stakeholders as tourism establishments, particularly the partial dine-in services in restaurants, were allowed to resume operations by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The government has retained Metro Manila’s general community quarantine (GCQ) status until
July 15. Cebu City, however, remains under enhanced community quarantine.
Tourism jobs in 2019 grew 6.5 percent from 5.36 million in 2018 to 5.71 million jobs last year. Tourism’s share to the country’s gross domestic product grew to 12.7 percent in 2019 from 12.3 percent in 2018.
Tourist police
Moreover, Puyat welcomed the reactivation of tourist police units, saying it would hasten the tourism industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Travel for tourists and non-tourists alike will be safer with Tourist-Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection (Topcop) strictly enforcing health protocols and guidelines in areas under the modified GCQ, Puyat said.
Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa earlier announced that Topcop would be revived in areas where quarantine restrictions have been eased.
Besides the enforcement of health protocols, the tourist police will also provide added security operations for local tourists and establishments and respond to tourist-related security and safety issues.
Gamboa said that the Topcop will strengthen the existing Tourist Police Assistance Desks around the country.