AirAsia on Tuesday said it joins calls from business groups and local government units (LGU) to allow leisure travel subject to strict “bubble tourism” for island destinations, such as Panglao and Boracay.
This comes after Panglao Tourism Council vowed to manage tourist arrivals from various parts of the country, to include those from the NCR Plus (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna) which is now under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions.
Speaking on behalf of the local government of Panglao and tourism stakeholders, Councilor Aya Montero-Caindec said, “Panglao LGU is equipped to fully operate with our established health and safety guidelines governing the businesses, tourists and local residents to mitigate the spread of virus in our island.”
“If we must, we will again adapt the tourism bubble strategy to ensure a conditioned balance of priority of health and safety and fully work towards unimpeded resuscitation of our tourism economic recovery.”
The Panglao Tourism Council is set to convene on May 21 together with the Panglao Chamber of Commerce and Industry to formalize their request to reopen tourism in the island.
The LGU plans to issue a resolution to include the tourism frontliners on the vaccination roll-out to boost the confidence of tourists who plan to visit Panglao.
The Panglao LGU reported a loss of P124 million in gross tourism receipt for the months of April and May due to the pandemic.
The Boracay Chamber of Commerce (BCC) also appealed to prioritize tourism workers in the vaccine rollout in the island.
Department of Tourism Region 6 earlier reported that Boracay lost P49 billion in potential tourism revenues in 2020 because of the travel restriction. Last January tourism arrival in the island also fell by 80 percent because of the pandemic.
BCC President Wesley van der Voort said, “We know that travelers both domestic and abroad are very eager to return to Boracay. By vaccinating the priority list as well as all tourism workers, we can confidently open-up tourism on a broader scale, restart the sleeping economic profit engine, and the Department of Tourism (DOT) can promote the ‘Crown Jewel of the Philippine Tourism’ as #VaccinatedBoracay confidently, loud and proud.”
In its position paper dated May 5, the Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on the provincial government and the DOT to open up the island to “international bubbles” to restart the economy.
The chamber also called for the resumption of unimpeded regular flights to the island. AirAsia for its part expressed its support for both initiatives as this will open up opportunities for economic recovery and growth.
Citing the decreasing number of cases in the NCR, Panglao and Boracay, the airline said existing health and safety protocols from each touch points, such as the submission of a negative RT-PCR test and the use of the QR code for contact tracing, will greatly contribute to the confidence of travelers.
As of May 17, there are only 10 active cases in the island of Boracay. Panglao Island registered 16 asymptomatic cases. Covid-19 cases in the NCR meanwhile continue to drop with a reproduction rate of 0.57 according to health research sources.
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