Virus trips businesses, tourism in provinces

TOURIST SPOT The Subic Bay Freeport, a former American naval base, has become a leading tourist and convention destinations in Central Luzon. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Businesses in the Visayas are feeling the crunch from the decline in tourist arrivals due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) scare.

A business group in Eastern Visayas has warned of possible retrenchment while at least 19 establishments in Metro Cebu have asked the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to allow them to cut working hours due to low sales and profits.Several business establishments in Leyte, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Biliran and Eastern Samar provinces have reported suffering losses by as much as 20 percent due to the impact of COVID-19.

Flexible work

More events have also been canceled. “Generally all businesses are affected,” said Wilson Uy, regional president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and whose family owns several establishments, including hotels and gas stations in Tacloban City.“[Our] countermeasure is to cut our operating expenses but if this problem will extend to a year, we will be forced to resort to retrenchment,” he said.In Cebu province, 19 establishments—mostly restaurants and furniture shops—have asked the Dole in Central Visayas for a “flexible work arrangement” by either reducing the number of working days or hours, after incurring huge losses following the drop of tourist arrivals.“Those workers who are paid on a daily basis will be the ones who will be affected,” said Luchel Taniza, the Dole spokesperson.

In Aklan province, residents and workers on Boracay Island have appealed for economic assistance due to losses of earnings and livelihood after tourist arrivals dropped.

Vendors and those relying on tourists for livelihood said their earnings dropped by 50 percent since the travel restrictions were implemented and as travelers shelved plans to go to Boracay and other destinations.

Workers in Chinese restaurants on the island were also told to go on leave without pay as the establishments closed down after flights from China, Hong Kong and Macau were suspended as part of efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Of the 1,032,619 foreign tourists who went to Boracay last year, nearly half, or 434,175, were from China.

Subic Freeport slump

In Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales province, businessmen said they also started to feel the pinch of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Danny Piano, president of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC), said hotel and resort operators experienced many cancellations in their bookings.

“Some of our manufacturing members, on the other hand, have problems getting materials from their suppliers. Even the SBFCC has to cancel some of our events this March, including a job fair and a basketball tournament,” Piano said.

Wilma Eisma, chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, said hotels in the free port suffered a 43-percent drop in occupancy in the last two months compared to the same period last year.

Festivals canceled

In Pampanga province, Lubao Mayor Esmeralda Pineda had canceled the Sampaguita Festival scheduled in May, citing the health and safety of her constituents. The yearly event is held as a thanksgiving for the Sampaguita growing and garland-making businesses in the town.Organizers of the Lubao International Hot Air Balloon and Music Festival also canceled its sixth staging on April 3 to April 5.

In Angeles City, Holy Angel University president Luis Maria Calingo placed the campus on lockdown from March 11 to March 14.

In Benguet province, La Trinidad town suspended all tourism-related activities in the face of the COVID-19 threat. The towns of Bokod, Kabayan and Atok, all in Benguet, shut their doors on tourists. Four towns in Kalinga province—Lubuagan, Pasil, Tinglayan and Balbalan—were also declared off-limits to tourists.

In Mountain Province, Bontoc and Sagada towns also suspended all tourism activities. —REPORTS FROM JOEY GABIETA, NESTOR BURGOS JR., DALE ISRAEL, JOANNA AGLIBOT, TONETTE OREJAS AND KIMBERLIE QUITASOL