7 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product , of which 10.8 percent came from domestic tourism.
The crisis also paralyzed the operations of the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions businesses, tour operators, travel agents, and dive operators. But the COVID-19 pandemic has now incurred approximately P2.1 billion revenue losses in the MICE industry alone. The P6-billion portion went to the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. of the Department of Trade and Industry to provide soft loans to struggling tourism enterprises. The rest was disbursed for cash assistance and cash-for-work programs for the displaced tourism workers through the Labor department.As the country slowly revives the hardest hit sector, the DoT released health and safety guidelines to sustain its “slow but sure” approach.
The Philippines is also the 100th destination awarded by the prestigious World Travel and Tourism Council with the “Safe Travels” specialized global safety stamp.Boracay Island, Baguio City, Palawan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Batangas, Siargao Island, and Bohol then expanded its doors to all local tourists.
However, the reopening of tourism did not come smoothly amid quarantine breach incidents and the issues on forged RT-PCR test results.