MANILA – Philippine hotels have lost some 80 to 90 percent of income as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continued to affect the tourism industry, a group of hotel owners said.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Association has currently booked all hotels in the National Capital Region as quarantine facility for returning overseas Filipino workers. But the agency has been paying for overhead costs such as employee salary and utility costs, said Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA) president Arthur Lopez
“Revenues of the hotels ay bumagsak ng about 80 to 90 percent so at least ang nakukuha [namin sa] OWWA, we’re able to pay our employees who are working and pay electricity, as you know may electricity, may mga minimum usage, you don’t make the minimum kaya makakatulong malaki sa mga hotel,” Lopez said.
PHOA previously said that its buildings are already at full capacity, as the Philippine College of Physicians earlier appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to use hotels as quarantine facilities for local cases to decongest hospitals.
Under current travel protocols, overseas Filipino workers are made to quarantine while waiting for their COVID-19 test results.
Lopez also said the Philippine Red Cross is setting up isolation facilities, and that PHOA has been donating materials such as beddings and food.
“All hotels are fully booked because OWWA has taken these hotels for the OFWs that are returning back to the country. So wala na kaming mai-allot na hotel para gawing isolation faciltiies,”said Lopez.
He also said it would be “very difficult” to convert these hotels to hospitals due to different building operating requirements.(ABS-CBN News)
