One of the country’s top tourist destinations: Coron, Palawan. Photo by Katherine G. Adraneda/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) appealed to the government on Tuesday to open the country’s borders for tourism to help workers affected by the pandemic.
PTAA president Michelle Taylan lamented that travel agents now work as online sellers when their agencies closed down because of travel restrictions imposed by the government.
“Everyone knows talaga our tourism industry is bleeding until this time since last year we’ve been in lockdown. Lahat po ng opisina ng mga travel agencies ay nag close so most of the owners, travel agency owners—from travel agents they become online sellers hanggang ngayon,” Taylan told the Senate committee on economic affairs.
(All offices of travel agencies have closed down so most of the owners, travel agency owners—from travel agents they become online sellers until now)
To help the tourism industry recover, the group urged the government to provide a wage subsidy program for displaced workers and waive business permit fees for travel agencies, among others.
READ: PH lost P400B income in 2020 due to slide in foreign arrivals amid pandemic
“As much as possible, ma-open na rin po sana ‘yung borders natin para magkaroon ng trabaho ‘yung mga taong nasa tourismo,” Taylan then added.
(As much as possible, we hope we could open our borders to give jobs to people n the tourism industry)
“Mas kailangan po namin ‘yung trabaho at i-open ‘yung negosyo kesa ‘yung umasa po kami palagi sa mga ayuda na ibinibigay at saka syempre we don’t want also to be an added burden of the government so sana po ‘yung ibibigay ninyo na tulong sa amin to really open the borders especially now that the vaccine’s already started rolling out,” she added.
(What we need is work and to open businesses then always rely on government’s assistance and of course, we don’t want also to be an added burden of the government so we hope that the help you’d give us is to really open the borders especially now that the vaccine’s already started rolling out)
Senator Imee Marcos, who presided over the hearing as head of the committee, said they need to convince the government’s economic managers to consider the PTAA’s appeal.