Negros Oriental Capitol spokesperson and Public Information Officer Bimbo Miraflor. (Photo by Judy F. Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Amid growing global concern over the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), hotels, resorts, Airbnbs and other accommodation facilities have the discretion to turn down tourists, a Capitol executive said.
Public Information Officer Bimbo Miraflor, also designated as spokesperson for the province’s Incident Command System on Covid-2019, reiterated this Thursday afternoon due to alleged refusals by some stakeholders in the accommodation or lodging industry.
Miraflor said Governor Roel Degamo’s executive order on the mandatory 14-day quarantine of tourists and/or returning citizens with a history of travel to mainland China and its administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao has now included Taiwan.
Just this week, a hotel here allegedly refused to accept some Taiwanese tourists who had come from nearby Oslob, Cebu, and who reportedly proceeded to Apo Island in Dauin, Negros Oriental.
It was not immediately known what had happened to the tourists from Taiwan although their concerns were attended to by a composite team of health authorities and disaster risk reduction and management workers, along with the police.
Many in the hotel and resort industry are worried over the governor’s directive, raising questions as to who shall pay for the stay of these quarantined guests if they go beyond the number of days of the actual booking or when flu-like symptoms are manifested and health care is needed.
Miraflor said “the non-acceptance of these tourists by the hotel concerned is within their discretion knowing pretty well their obligation as provided for under EO 4 and 4-A as amended,” he said, referring to the mandatory quarantine that now covers individuals coming from affected areas.
Latest reports said a number of hotels and resorts here have already canceled bookings of tourists from affected areas due to the global threat of Covid-19. (PNA)
