Tuna sector lost P50M a day from PAL strike

Business Mirror
Recto Mercene
Reporter

FLIGHT cancellations and disruptions of regular flights by the Philippine Airlines (PAL) as a result of its long-running labor feud with the PAL Employees Association (Palea) resulted in the drop in hotel occupancy rates and a P50-million daily loss in the tuna industry, representatives of tourism-related enterprises in South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City said.

The reports were made at a regional consultation held by the Tourism Congress and its member associations over the weekend in General Santos City.

Jaime Cura, Tourism Congress vice president, said the direct effect is a reported loss in booked business of about 30 percent overall as occupancy rates dropped to around 50 percent to 70 percent.

“This was due to canceled hotel bookings for conferences, banquets and other functions of out-of-town groups and entities that had been previously confirmed,” said Cura.

“The local chamber of commerce also revealed that for the tuna industry alone, reported losses are to the tune of around P50 million a day, the corresponding revenue value of a daily shipment stock of about 20 to 26 tons of tuna that did not reach their designated buyers because of canceled flights,” he said.

The reports came from operators of hotels and resorts, travel agencies and tours, land, sea and air transport, and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions and other tourism enterprises.

The reports confirmed the concern aired by the Tourism Congress about the dire effects of the Palea wildcat strike at the height of Typhoon Pedring on September 27 and other forms of work stoppage that have disrupted flight schedules or forced outright cancellation of many flights.

The Tourism Congress was created under Republic Act 9593, or the Tourism Act of 2009, as the private consultative body to work with the Department of Tourism on policies and programs. It is the private-sector voice of the Philippine tourism industry.

PAL Vice President Bong Cruz, who attended the regional consultation, apologized to affected stakeholders and explained the causes of the labor row and the steps now being taken by the airline to normalize flight operations as soon as possible.

Cura said the regional dialogue validated and affirmed the need for pre-planned cooperative arrangements among the various tourism sectors and enterprises in anticipation of emergencies and contingencies that may have adverse effects on tourism businesses in general.

Cooperation among private-sector tourism enterprises is one of the advocacies of the current Tourism Congress.

“One of the immediate actions that can be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of crisis situations affecting tourism is for the concerned sector to promptly issue a situation report, which the Tourism Congress can speedily circulate to the rest of its stakeholders,” he said. “This way, explanations can be adequately handled by the other affected sectors and enable them to take stop-gap countermeasures.”

The dialogue also highlighted the importance of tourism enterprises in the various sectors in the region to form or join associations that can facilitate meetings and communication for prompt and constructive action among themselves and responsive advocacy for collective concerns and recommendations.

The local enterprises asked what could be done to offset the negative effects on tourism in the region by the travel advisories that are issued intermittently by various foreign governments warning their citizens not to travel to Mindanao. A consensus on the need for more widespread and better-organized use of social media to counter the negative travel advisories emerged from the discussion.