Bohol Association of Hotel, Resorts and Restaurants (BHARR) president Rommel Gonzales said Bohol should be placed under Alert Level 1 starting March 16 if the province will be able to maintain its low number of active COVID-19 cases.
“Huwaton lang nato mag March 16 kung unsa man, pero akong tan-aw na if that is the case that there is no more COVID incidents sa Bohol na mo taas, I would say that we should be going under Alert Level I,” said Gonzales in an interview over station dyRD on Thursday.
According to Gonzales, eased restrictions under Alert Level 1 would help revive the province’s slumping tourism and hospitality industries.
“Maayo unta og mag Alert Level 1 na ta, pareho sa Manila so there would be a free movement of people and it will help our tourism industry,” said Gonzales.
He hoped that once Bohol is under Alert Level 1, the government would also waive the mandatory presentation of vaccination card or RT-PCR testing for those entering the province like in Metro Manila.
“Mao unta [no vaccination card] kay sa Manila mao na may ilang patakaran, so it follows na it is allowed by IATF if that is the case sa Manila,” he added.
The BHARR official who manages the Modala Beach Resort in Panglao said they have already seen an improvement in terms of guest arrivals in recent weeks.
He said this was indication of the public’s renewed interest to travel and take vacations.
“I already see an increase in our traffic man gud. So people are really going out sa provinces na, taking vacations and now as we approach the summer time, it’s really a big help sa local tourism nato diri sa Bohol,” Gonzales said.
“Ang atong mga gagmay nga establisgment, even ang transportation nato, mga tricycle driver, slowly mabalik na ang atong ekonomiya ginagmay pero at least it’s moving na compared adtong wa gyud tay bisita,” he added.
As ordered by Malacañang, Bohol continued to be placed under Alert Level 2 until March 15 while Metro Manila was already categorized under Alert Level 1.
Meanwhile, data from the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force showed that Bohol continued to log low number of active COVID-19 cases at 54 as of Thursday afternoon, down from over 1,000 in January. (R. Tutas)