Davao City’s tourism industry incurred a P20M loss within three days after President Duterte declared Martial Law in the whole of Mindanao.
In a press conference on Thursday, City Tourism Operations Officer Gene Rose Tecson divulged that of the estimated P20 million loss in revenue, P18 million arose from cancelled bookings in the hotel and accommodation sector.
The rest came from the restaurant and transport services as of May 24-27.
“The losses arose as events and room bookings have been canceled,” said Tecson.
However, Tecson said that everything that is happening is temporary and just a normal reaction to the declaration. She hoped that in three to four weeks’ time, the city will recover. The tourism officer cited the influx of cancellations in September 2016 Roxas bombing incident but eventually, tourists rebooked their reservations in October and November 2016.
“It’s not all bad for us. Everything that is happening is a normal reaction to the declaration. Hindi naman lahat nagsasabi na ‘ayaw na namin dito’. May iba nagsasabi na ‘we’ll book on a later date.’ It’s really up to them kung makita nila kung okay naman pala yung situation.”
Tecson called for the tourists and visitors not to be alarmed with the declaration of Martial Law, but instead, feel relieved and assured that that the city is safe and secured from lawless elements.
So far, Tecson said that no major events slated to be held in Davao have been cancelled in line with the declaration.
“We have been asking help from Department of Tourism to vouch for us, not to move the ASEAN meetings to other venues, to let it stay here. Anyway, we know that we are one of the safest cities so we will be able to show them how we’ll be able to handle our participants that time.”
Currently, according to Tecson, several tourists from Luzon and other foreign ones intend to visit the city in June.
