Duterte calls on Filipinos to visit local destinations to boost economy amid COVID-19

President Rodrigo Duterte has called on the public to travel to local tourist destinations to boost the country’s economy, which has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We enjoin our people to boost the economy by travelling locally,” Duterte said in his fifth State of the Nation Address.

“[Travel] local na lang…once the necessary systems are in place,” Duterte added.

Duterte then said that the tourism industry can count on the full support of the national government “to put the fun back in local travels.”

“National government agencies and local government units should harmonize their policies to boost tourism and ensure everyone’s well-being,” Duterte added.

Back in April, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that tourism revenue from foreign arrivals from January to March shrank to P79.8 billion from P134.3 billion during the same period last year.

In February, Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) estimated the monthly loss in tourism revenues at P22.7 billion, of which P2.7 billion are from domestic flights, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government placed the country under various lockdown protocol mid-March, banning mass transport, non-essential work and mass gathering to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

These quarantine protocols have resulted in work stoppages in many industries, followed by seven million Filipinos losing their jobs. — BM, GMA News