MANILA – The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Wednesday vowed to help the travel and hospitality sectors hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The DOT assures its tourism stakeholders that it will continue to extend them assistance to cushion the impact of the crisis on the industry," the agency said in a statement following a request for relief and stimulus packages from the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA).
At present, the DOT is communicating with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to provide rehabilitation financing support to tourism enterprises that have been severely affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The DOT noted that the DBP already categorized the tourism industry under its program called Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events (RESPONSE) that seeks to support businesses affected by calamities.
It added that the Land Bank of the Philippines will also assist tourism stakeholders under its program called: Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably Affected Enterprises by Covid-19 (I-RESCUE) Lending Program.
The DOT has also made representation with the Social Security System (SSS), Pag-IBIG Fund, and PhilHealth for the deferment of tourism workers’ contributions.
"Upon these representations, PhilHealth has agreed to extend the deadline to remit the members’ savings/contributions until two weeks after the lifting of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) without any penalty. Pag-IBIG has also agreed to extend its deadline for payment of premium contributions for the first quarter of 2020 to 30 April 2020. Social Security System agreed to extend the deadline for the remittance of contributions until 01 June 2020," the DOT said.
The DOT is also coordinating with relevant government agencies for the requested deferment of corporate income tax payments by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
On PTAA's request for rent and utility discounts as well as travel agency commission from airlines, the DOT said "these are normally matters governed by contracts between private parties, and not subject to government intervention" although these can be a subject of legislation to provide financing or subsidies.
"The same thing may be said for the association’s request for salary and travel tour expo subsidies. All these matters will be raised by the DOT to the Congress which is also currently considering a bill granting a fiscal stimulus package to the tourism industry," the agency said.
Initial response
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the government had laid out initial programs to help tourism-related businesses since the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak.
“To cushion the impact, the DOT and its attached agencies, even before the lockdown, laid out the response and recovery plan during the initial stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country with the tourism sector taking a direct hit early on,” she said.
This includes the implementation of a moratorium on the collection of accreditation fees from new and renewing applicants from Tourism Enterprises (TEs) and Tourism-Related Enterprises (TREs) for the year 2020.
Among others, the DOT and the Tourism Promotions Board waived the participation fees in international fairs and exhibitions until the end of 2021 and mounted 20 sweeper flights that assisted the travel trade’s stranded foreign clients.
As of April 14, the DOT said a total of 19,898 foreign tourists and 1,456 domestic tourists have been provided assistance by the agency.
The DOT was also able to help find accommodations for repatriated Filipinos, business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, and bank workers.
According to its latest data, a total of 13,116 rooms in Metro Manila for overseas Filipino workers and 25,687 rooms have been allotted for BPO agents, bank workers, and frontline health workers.
"The DOT also submitted to the Department of Labor (DOLE) the list of displaced workers from various tourism-related enterprises for cash assistance. Along with other industries, employees of tourism enterprises will be provided with a PHP5,000 to PHP8,000-wage subsidy per worker under the Department of Finance's program," the DOT said.
The agency also lobbied with the DOLE to include tourism front-liners among the recipients of Hazard Pay for the duration of the ECQ, especially those who work at accommodation establishments that house health workers and repatriated OFWs. (PNA)
