Tourism groups pleads for P10-B credit facility

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism industry groups from all over the Philippines on Wednesday made a final appeal to Congress for a rescue package in the form of a P10-billion credit facility that would allow tourism enterprises, mostly to recover from the new coronavarius disease pandemic.

The statement was issued by 52 tourism stakeholders, mostly local tourism industry organizations from Cebu, Bohol, Davao, Bulacan, Quezon City, Batangas, Boracay, Pampanga, Palawan, Cagayan de Oro, Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Quezon province, Pangasinan, Bataan, Zambales, Eastern Visayas and Bicol.

Jose Clemente III, president of the government-established Tourism Congress of the Philippines, said the statement debunked the allegation of a congressman that only “big industry players” would benefit from the proposed bail-out fund.

Data from the Department of Tourism states the tourism sector employs 5.7 million workers in the Philippines and contributes close to 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

An estimated 4.8 million formal and informal tourism industry workers have been affected by the various levels of community quarantines in the Philippines, according to the agency.

—Jerome Aning