Duterte to Filipinos: Patronize local tourist destinations

President Rodrigo Duterte urged Filipinos to travel around the country amid the coronavirus outbreak that has affected top tourist destinations in Asia.

In a video message, Duterte announced plans to visit local tourist sites and assured citizens that the country is safe.

“Come with me and be my travel companion. I’ll be traveling around the Philippines. Pasyal tayo dito sa atin. Unahin natin ‘yung atin,” he said. 

“I assure you that everything is safe in our country, be it an issue of health, be it an issue of law and order and be it an issue of accessibility.”

He added tourism industry stakeholders agreed to spur domestic travel through lowering of airfare and hotel rates.

“Maraming magagandang mapuntahan sa Pilipinas. Wala kayong dapat alalahanin,” he said.

The mitigation plan comes after the Philippines imposed a temporary entry ban on foreigners who had traveled to virus-hit mainland China and its special administrative regions Macau and Hong Kong within the past 14 days.

The government later expanded the ban’s coverage to travelers from Taiwan. China and Taiwan are among the top tourism markets for the Philippines, which welcomed 7.48 million foreigners from January to November last year.

The Philippines is expected to lose P42 billion in tourism revenues from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan due to the coronavirus outbreak from February to April, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said Wednesday. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News