by Mark Richard Evidente, Elton Evidente,
Katrina de Guzman, Ann Geron, Justine Razon
Charting the way forward for the Philippine tourism industry must be based on an understanding of how local tourists have responded to the pandemic. We have examined the surveys conducted over the past four months to provide greater detail to that understanding. What is clear is that the resurgence of tourism to any significant level hinges on the success of public health interventions by national and local governments, tourism enterprises and travelers, entire communities and other stakeholders. It requires those successes be effectively, transparently, and clearly communicated to everyone. Achieving that requires genuine stakeholder collaboration, the deployment of technology, and innovation in creating more unique and sustainable experiences for the traveler.
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INTRODUCTION
This report seeks to synthesize the existing studies on tourist sentiment in reaction to COVID-19. It has gathered the publicly available results of surveys conducted by such groups as Experience PH, Chroma Hospitality, the Department of Tourism, the Asian Institute of Management and Guide to the Philippines, as well as our own, those conducted by TwoEco Inc. This report aims to provide an overview by identifying key themes across the surveys, identifying points of agreement or divergence, as well as points covered by some surveys and not in others. When appropriate, given that these surveys were conducted at different points over the past four months, the evolution of these themes over time is also explored.
This report is our fourth in studying the relationship of COVID and tourism in the Philippines. Our first Philippine Tourism, the Pandemic, and Sustainability was released in early May, followed by a study on Boracay released in June, and one on Bohol released in July. We hope these findings will be of use in mapping out a path for recovery for the tourism industry, and of the national economy as well.
Read the full report at https://bit.ly/TourismWayForward
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