Travel agencies send SOS as pandemic cripples

The umbrella organization of local travel agencies is asking the government to save their sector, whose members have been adversely impacted by the new coronavirus pandemic along with the rest of the country’s tourism industry.

In an appeal to the government, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) said its members’ operations were at risk after policy-makers decided to extend the enhanced community quarantine until the end of April.

“As you are already aware, the travel agents and tour operators have been badly affected,” PTAA president Ritchie Tuaño said in a letter to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

“We are bleeding, and we will continue to bleed for an undetermined length of time with all the uncertainties.”

According to the the association’s chief, the group is seeking the assistance of the Department of Tourism (DOT) for a favorable endorsement of their request to concerned government agencies.

The PTAA has divided the provisions they were seeking into “survival recommendations” to cover the remainder of the year and “recovery recommendations” that would run until December 2022.

For immediate implementation, the PTAA wants the government to defer corporate income tax payments for their members this year up to April 2021. They are also seeking corporate income tax and value added tax holiday this year for their members along with the withholding of taxes on salaries and professional fees.

The PTAA is also asking for 50- to 75-percent subsidies on the salaries of their members’ employees until the end of the year.

They are also seeking a waiver on their contributions to various state funds, a big discount on rent and up to 30-percent discount on utility payments. They are also asking for soft loans and a stimulus package that covers, among others, the reinstatement of the standard travel agency commission.—DAXIM L. LUCAS inq