A press release from City Hall has revealed a great deal of optimism in the future of the tourism industry as the fear of the spread of CoViD-19 is “becoming manageable”.
The statement most likely means that either the authorities have been able to assure the public we are indeed safe, or the short-term memory (and perhaps stubbornness) that exemplifies Filipinos as a people is kicking in yet again.
The effectiveness of the local governments in containing the fear of the spread of CoViD 19 is worth considering. We have seen them at work.
Through CCTV cameras, we have been able to trace the itinerary of the tourists we had been looking for, as well as establish the identity of the people they came in contact with.
Today, we have managed to keep the CoViD 19 outside of our national borders. That’s a great achievement.
However, as they say in the U.S. and other countries which have not reported a CoViD 19 infection thus far, the matter is not a question of if but when.
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At the rate the virus is spreading to other countries (especially to South Korea, which is our No. 1 source of tourists), we may just be looking at another CoViD 19 case in the Philippines sooner that we expect.
The reality is that the travel and tourism industry is severely affected by this CoViD 19 threat.
Instead of dreaming up rosy pictures about the tourism industry, we could benefit more from planning for worst-case scenarios on how we expect to feed the people who may be rendered jobless by the slump in tourist arrivals. Neighboring Cebu is planning for the worst case.
The various local government units can brace themselves for lower business tax collections next year, and be on the lookout for ways to help the business sector weather the coming storm — through tax breaks perhaps?
They can also probably plan on absorbing the soon-to-be-jobless workers by hiring them in government projects, and training them in skills we might need to survive — such as agriculture.
We’re not really over the hump yet. We may not catch that virus, but we here in Negros Oriental will surely be feeling its impact in the global community in the months to come.