Visayas resorts, hotels see hope as they await return of tourists

SCENIC Boracay’s white sand beach, clear waters and stunning sunset draw tourists back to this resort island in Malay town, Aklan province. —JACK JARILLA

(Last of two parts)

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines — Anecita Nerves Arcay’s only wish this year is that she will finally open her hotel on Panglao Island in Bohol province. She was set to inaugurate her five-story ARC Homes at Barangay Poblacion in Panglao town on March 26 last year, but the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, forcing provinces to close their borders and restrict the movement of people to prevent the spread of the highly contagious new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Although Bohol fully reopened its doors to tourists in December, Arcay decided to wait because there were only a few visitors coming in, as people take a wait-and-see attitude with the health crisis still raging.

“We needed to make sure our business is sustainable in this new market with special protocols put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of guests. If we see numbers [of tourists] go up this year, we can start to operate,” she said.

Promos, cost-cutting

Like Bohol, Cebu and Boracay islands have also opened their doors to tourists from other provinces. To encourage more arrivals, resorts and tourism destinations have offered huge discounts to lure visitors.

Businesses on Boracay Island in Aklan province, for instance, have slashed room rates to as much as 70 percent to attract more tourists.

Wesley Van Der Voort, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Boracay, said several resorts and hotels were offering packages for those working at home in Metro Manila and who wanted to have a temporary “office” on the resort island.

These guests can stay and work in hotels and resorts for two months or longer with accommodation rates at P80,000 per month, inclusive of stay in an air-conditioned room, daily breakfast, free Wi-Fi connection and even a pocket Wi-Fi for those who want to work while on the beach.

Still, only an average of 400 tourists have been arriving on the island daily since late November last year, with more visitors coming during weekends, said Malay Councilor Maylynn “Nenette” Aguirre-Graf, chair of the town council’s tourism committee.

The figures were roughly about 10 percent of the 4,000 to 6,000 daily tourist arrivals in Boracay prepandemic.

In Cebu, some resorts have remained closed even if tourism activities have resumed.

Those still open are not operating at full capacity—only a few rooms have been offered while some amenities unavailable—to cut on cost.

Cebu resorts enjoy “good occupancy” only during weekends, said Alfred Reyes, president of Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association in Cebu.

But good occupancy meant that only 40 percent of rooms were occupied—lower than the 90-percent occupancy rate they used to enjoy on weekdays in 2019.

Finding ways

The low arrivals have pushed local and industry officials to be vigorous in tourism promotions.

The local government of Malay and business owners in Boracay had to find ways to make visiting the island worthwhile.

The curfew on the island’s three villages has been set to three hours, from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., shorter than the previous curfew of 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

A group of 20 top hotels and resorts on the island under One Boracay has started the “Boracay Better Than Ever” marketing campaign to encourage tourists to come.

Bohol has the “Balik sa Bohol” (Come Back to Bohol) campaign, which included an online sale that offered 70-percent discount on accommodations from Feb. 21 to March 14.

The sale was participated in by 13 resorts, hotels and tourism accommodation establishments, one adventure park, and six local tour operators, all of them given certificates of authority to operate.

Visitors, however, are still required to provide negative swab results within 72 hours before being allowed entry to the province.

No test in Cebu

But not in Cebu.

To encourage tourists from other provinces to visit Cebu, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia removed the requirement for a swab test for inbound visitors, bucking the strict measure taken by practically all other local governments in the country.

The governor said that except for the presentation of a medical certificate and prebooking of accommodations, no additional protocol would be imposed on tourists. But Cebu City, a chartered city independent of the province, still requires tourists to undergo COVID-19 testing.

Reyes said removing the testing requirement was a “good move” to promote Cebu to tourists, but whether it would be enough to increase the number of arrivals remained to be seen.

But Maria Lester Ybañez, Cebu provincial tourism officer, said they were strict with health protocols to ensure the safety of guests and workers of tourism establishments.

She said the province also upgraded its app and portal to make it “user-friendly” and “tourist-centered.” Visitors have to book first through discover.cebu.gov.ph., an online portal managed by the Cebu Provincial Tourism Task Force.

Getting ready

Although Cebu has started accepting tourists from other provinces since Feb. 23, Ybañez said they would hold a grand launch this month, complete with tour packages in partnership with the airlines, tour operators, transport groups and destinations.

“We have to be ready because all eyes are on us,” she added.

While the pandemic has crippled the tourism industry in Cebu, Ybañez said they used it as an opportunity to fine-tune their guidelines and policies in preparation for what she called as the “better normal.”

At the time when tourism sites were closed, Ybañez said they used it as an opportunity to train and accredit fly-by-night tour operators online. Even tour guides took online courses in storytelling to hone their craft.

Security guards and even hotel staff took training on photography since they were usually the ones asked by guests to take their photos. There were also workshops done on new health protocols on housekeeping.

“We did all these so by the time we opened up [the tourism industry], they would not be left behind,” Ybañez said.

Despite all the preparations, she admitted that it would take two to three years before Cebu could regain what it lost during the pandemic.

With summer approaching and COVID-19 vaccines have started to arrive, tourism officials and business operators are hoping for better days ahead.

“[The situation] is still precarious, like walking on a tightrope. But we are hopeful that things will get better, especially if [mass] vaccination starts,” a Boracay resort owner said.