Newly elected Quezon Rep. Reynan Arrogancia on Sunday said the weakening of the peso against the US dollar could provide a boost for dollar-earning tourism enterprises.
This could help ease elevated inflation and high fuel prices.
“I hope the Department of Tourism will help promote the less famous tourist destinations where tourists’ dollars will have more impact than in the more expensive but famous attractions. Tourism places, like the beaches of Quezon facing the Tayabas Bay, would gain from a high exchange rate of the peso to the dollar when foreign tourists and balikbayans come,” he said.
“Tourism is experiencing a resurgence now that the country has relaxed travel restrictions and COVID spread is low. I will urge the local government unit in my congressional district to be watchful and guard against any resurgence of COVID in their areas, so as not to slow down or stop the recovery of tourism,” he added.
He said public utility vehicles and tourism shuttle operators are hurting because of high fuel prices.
“Please help them through the fuel subsidies. DOT, the Department of Budget and Management, and the Department of Finance must include tourism shuttle operators in the fuel subsidies,” he noted.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector are “welcoming foreign and local tourists with wide-open arms now and world-famous Filipino hospitality,” he noted.
“The high exchange rate favoring dollar earners is good timing for tourism, business process outsourcing, exporters with high local content, and for the ecozones,” he added.
Fuel costs of the transport sector would continue to go up because of the high price of imported oil and petroleum products, he lamented.