ZAMBOANGA CITY has temporarily suspended all leisure travels here following the spike in Covid-19 cases in Luzon and other areas in Mindanao.
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| (Photos by Al Jacinto) |
The suspension of tourism activities - which took effect this month - was ordered by the local task force on Covid-19 headed by Mayor Beng Climaco based on the recommendation of medical experts and health authorities to effectively manage and prevent the further spread of the deadly respiratory disease.
Tourism officer Sarita Hernandez said there leisure cannot be implemented for a while in light of the alarming increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the new variants of novel coronavirus. She was referring to the Covid-19 variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa. But there is also a Philippine variant of Covid-19.
“The local Inter-Agency Task Force, with the recommendation of medical experts, believe there is an urgent need to control the movement of people in the city,” Hernandez said during a recent local government virtual presser.
“There is a need for us to be in this journey together. We need to help each other. We need to help the local government, help our medical frontliners para hinde sila cansa y si kita man enferma, tiene siempre canaton quien atende,” she added.
In February where the number of active Covid-19 cases were low, the local government announced the partial re-opening of Zamboanga’s tourism industry.
The local government even issued business licenses to 139 tourism-oriented establishments for them to be able to operate provided they strictly observe health protocols. These are for 25 hotels and other accommodation establishments, 54 restaurants, four resorts, 50 travel and tours and ticketing agencies, and six other related businesses.
Climaco said the opening of the tourism industry is part of an effort to collect revenues and help revive the local economy and offer livelihood to those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. (Jasmine Mohammadsali and Zamboanga Post)
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