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'Virus may cost 95I(
jobs in tourism sector'
CoNTTNUBD FRoMAI
Edillon added that the estimates
includethe assumption that about l0
percent oftourists from other countries
will also not push through with their
travel plans to the country.
Forthe month of Februaryalone, or
' "As ofFebruary T.there were 1 1 can-
during the start ofthe travel ban, Tour-
ism SecretaryBernadette RomuloPuyat
said foregone revenue from covlD-19
could reach P16.8 billion.
"ln totall we expect foregone
revenue of P42.9 billion forgone
from February to April lbased on]
forecast arrivals of 678,102 tourists
from China. 22,584 from Hong Kong,
and 2,1 94 l,4aca u,92,370 fromTaiwan
during the said three months," said
Romulo Puyat.
she said flight canaellations from
China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
dueto COVID-19 have reached 465 per
week, or an estimated 101,452 seats.
Affected businesses
DURING the same hearing, Air Carriers
Association of the Philippines (Acap)
Executive DirectorAlberto Lim said for
the nexttwo monthstheforegone rev-
enue of theairline industryis expected
to reach P3 billion affecting more than
5,000 flights.
Acapmembers includeCebu Pacific,
CebGo, Philippine Airlines, PAL Express
and AirAsia,
Besides China, Hong Kong and
Macau,Tourism Congress of the Phil-
ippines President Jose Clemente lll
said arrivals from South Korea are
declining due mainly to flight can-
cellations.
Aside frbm airlines, Clemente said
hotels are already losing money. He
noted that hotels in cebu alone have
recorded some Pl00 million in losses
since the start ofthe travel ban.
"This will affect the local employ-
ment because there are 5.7 million
workers in the. tourism industry," he
said.
Romulo Puyat said the cruise tour-
ism industry will also be affected.
For 2020, she said there were 101
expected cruise calls from January
to November with 203,000 exPected
cruise passengers.
celed cruise calls to various Philippine
port with estimated passenger loss of
14,211;'she added.
Remedies
CLEN4ENTE urged the national govern-
ment to lift the travel ban on Taiwan.
He also said the ban should have been
imposed on SingaPore.
"We are urging the government
to reconsider thi5 [ban on Taiwan].
There are more significant infections
in Singapore than in Taiwan. For the
sake of the ltourism] industry, we
should lift the ban on Taiwan," he
said,
Leader &Lenven id o
li!1ri,V
Abante Jr, urged the national gov-
ernment to implement the travel
bans "co D,siste ntly.'
"One issue I raised during the hear-
ing was the inconsistency in the travel
bans now imposed on various coun-
tries, particularly whya travel ban now
cover5Taiwan butexcludes Singapore,
even ifthe latter has more cases,"said
Abante.
As for workers who could lose
their jobs, Edillon said the Teclinical
Education and Skills Development
Authority (Tesda) may train them so
they can upgrade their skills while
they wait for the COVID-19 to pass.
Training and retraining these work-
erswillcost;round P2TSmillionto P855
million, according to Edillon. However.
she said the government does not yet
havethe supplemental budgettocover
this.
lf the government will not have
\\ #ErcUt)G;
the reJources to foot the bill through
interna I budgets, Edillon said the gov-
ernment can tap a Quick Response
Fund (QRF) for this or government
line agencies could front-load their
spending for 2020,
5he saidttre government may also
seturethe help ofthe private sector so
they will pay a portion of the salaries
of their employees in training.
'Fighting chance'
DESPITE the problems created by co-
VID-1 9, Socioeconomic Planning Sec-
retary Ernesto M. Pernla told reporte15
that the country's economy still has a
"fi ghting chance"to expand byaround
6 percent in the first quarter.
"Maybe domestic tourjsm will pick
up, so we'll kind of compensate for
international tourism. People are now
beginning to be less worried," Pernia
said.
Pernia said infrastructurewill also
play a key role in boosting economic
growth, thanks to the recent approv-
al, and signing of the 2020 national
budget.
Fle said government spending will
increase, as "many projects" have al-
ready taken off. Pernia said the gov-
ernment has already approved 72 of
the 100 flagship projects.
This means, Pernia said. there are
only about 25 remaining projects
that need aFproval. Other projects,
he said, do not require Neda Board
apprqval.
The Asean13 M acroecon omic
Research Office (Amro) projects
that a 1 percentage pojnt decline
in China's economic activity would
affect Hong Kong and Singapore
"disproportionately."
Amro said, however, that the hit to
Thailand's economic growth would be
almo5tas large as China's.The negative
effects on Maiaysia, Japan, Korea and
the Philippines will also be of a similar
maqnitude, while lndonesia appears
to bethe least exposed.
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