In this COVID-19 pandemic, what kind of recreational and leisure activities should the

Philippines develop to recover from this pandemic?

The pandemic had affected a lot of businesses, government sectors, and people trying to
survive by working on low-paying jobs. This is due to a lockdown that lasted from 2020 to 2021.
According to the PWC website, around 86% are concerned about the financial and operational
impact the COVID-19 pandemic had brought to the country. The point here is that the two
factors stated, finance and operations, are quite important when it comes to doing all sorts of
recreational and leisure activities in the Philippines. A good example would be parades or
‘parada’. Parades or ‘parada’ in the Philippines can consist of a religious activity involving
muses with their respective ‘santo’, school parades when a competition is going on, etc. These
activities, which is extremely popular back then in the 2000s and early 2010s, should be brought
back as it is also a part of our culture. After the pandemic, the tradition of parades seemed to die
down with the exceptions of major religious activity such as the ‘Pista ng Nazareno’ and famous
festivals like the ‘Sinulog’. Some of these activities still happen now, but not as often and as fun
because of the fact that people are careful nowadays when going outside. This is due to the fear
of them getting sick, and it is understandable. I believe that in order to bring back the essence of
our culture, starting with the parades can give not just nostalgia, but hope to the Filipino people.

Reference:
Cabrera, A. B., Roxas-Divinagracia, M. J. T., & Rogacion, K. P. (2020, July). Impact of covid-19 on the
Philippine Tourism Industry. PWC. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from
https://www.pwc.com/ph/en/publications/pwc-publications/tourism-covid-19.html

During your tour in Cebu and Bohol, what have you realized about the current operations
in the tourism industry during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic? Is the Philippines
ready to accept foreign tourists again?

The tourism industry in Cebu and Bohol has slight differences during the pandemic in
comparison to pre-pandemic. In the airports, masks are required and a vaccination card must be
present. You also need to get your temperature checked. However, in the tourist destinations, you
can remove your face mask. The only difference is that there is now a limited amount of people
in certain areas around the destination. An example would be a room filled with various relics or
artifacts, as it is air-conditioned only a certain amount of people can go inside while the rest will
go form a line and wait for their turn. From what I observed, the state of the tourism industry is
not that different compared to before. You can still travel and see sights with your friends even
with no face masks, you can still eat around at the famous restaurants, and you can go to
crowded areas and it is still allowed. They are only strict at the airport, where a vaccination card
and face mask is a must as there is a high percentage of the virus spreading in there as it is air-
conditioned and there are a lot of people as well. I believe that the Philippines is not yet ready to
accept foreign tourists for now, as stricter health protocols and containment of the virus is a
must. We still have a lot daily active cases of the COVID-19 virus and accepting foreigners will
be quite difficult to contain, especially our healthcare industry is overworked and underpaid. I
think our country will only be ready if our national government provides enough funding and
manpower towards our medical facilities around the globe, and create strict health protocols in
order to reduce the number of active cases so that containing the virus will not be a difficult task
for them.