By Marisol Bo-oc, Helen Castano | 11:23 PM June 10, 2020
The island municipality of Panglao is eyeing to reopen to local tourists if they’ll be given a go signal this coming June 15.
In an interview with the media on Wednesday, Panglao Mayor Leonila Montero said they are gearing up together with the resort and establishment owners to be back in business three months after the Bohol province was placed on community quarantine to curb the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We want to open under the new normal way of tourism under COVID-19,” added Montero.
Montero had a meeting with the Panglao Inter-Agency Task Force together with the tourism sector to draft proposals to be given to the Department of Tourism (DOT), to Gov. Art Yap and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for approval on the resumption of tourism in Panglao.
Should they have a go signal, Montero said their main focus is to entice domestic tourists to come and visit.
The pandemic closed at least 5,000 tourism-related business establishments in Panglao.
Rex (family name withheld upon his request), who worked in a Korean restaurant in Barangay Tawala, was among those who lost his job last April.
He said the management has allowed them to work back then for thrice a week but visitors became lesser until no one came.
Alona Beach, a popular tourist destination that is usually filled with both local and international tourists, is now empty.
The provincial government of Bohol suspended all commercial flights and sea trips to and from Bohol since March 16 to further curb the spread of COVID-19.
Rex is among the locally stranded individuals in Panglao since he is only renting a boarding house there. He was among the renters who received relief goods from the municipality of Panglao.
Montero said the pandemic resulted in mass lay off of workers. Some establishments retrenched their workers.
Others were given two or three days to work if the resort has long-term staying guests.
She added that the tourism industry was affected by previous calamities like the 2013 strong earthquake but it has recovered.
In this pandemic, she said it will take time to recover.
“But the local economy must continue,” she said.
“The tourism will bounce back. Soon,” she added.
During a press conference on Friday, June 5, Governor Yap said that commercial flights and sea trips to Bohol will not be allowed until the province has established a molecular diagnostic laboratory to test all incoming passengers.
“We are willing to accept (visitors). However, at this point in time, since we still do not have PCR laboratories then we cannot accept them,” Yap said.
Yap also said that even if Bohol will have its own COVID-19 testing laboratory, visitors will have to undergo a five-day quarantine.
