Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat announced Saturday that 465,530 tourism workers nationwide would receive cash assistance under the DOT-DOLE Cash Assistance Program of the Bayanihan 2 amounting to P2.32 billion.
“We are hopeful that this financial assistance will provide some relief to our most affected stakeholders and tourism workers during these difficult times. While it may help in the short term, we believe that the best way to help stakeholders in the long run is to develop a tourism industry that is stronger, more resilient, and more adaptable to change,” Puyat said.
A breakdown of qualified applicants are as follows: 39,429 from the National Capital Region (NCR); 26,908 from Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); 45,709 from Region 1; 17,293 from Region 2; 55,974 from Region 3; 61,392 from Region 4A; 56,955 from Region 4B; 11,468 from Region 5; 45,429 from Region 6; 31,712 from Region 7; 13,327 from Region 8; 6,609 from Region 9; 13,939 from Region 10; 26,095 from Region 11; 5,661 from Region 12, and 7,630 from Region 13.
Out of the total approved beneficiaries, 450,202 workers were from 15,982 establishments, organizations, and associations nationwide. Meanwhile, individual applications received were at 15,328.
As of April 28, the payment for 325,678 workers amounting to P1,628,390,000.00 were already remitted and released to payment centers.
A total of 139,852 approved applicants with equivalent cash assistance amounting to P699,260,000 are pending for disbursement.
Meanwhile, the DOT is also in collaboration with the local government units and the tourism stakeholders in NCR Plus to provide programs and circuits for tourism recovery.
In Bulacan, a food mapping project is being developed by the DOT Region 3 to stimulate the province’s culinary and farm tourism destinations.
The Green Corridor Initiative (GCI) plays a vital role in Region 4A’s tourism recovery and response. Here, the DOT Region 4A formulated three tourism circuits in CALABARZON to promote sustainability and health and safety campaigns under the new normal. These include Metro Tagaytay Tourism Circuit in Cavite, SaRiLiNa Tourism Circuit in Laguna, and the Faith, Food, Art, Adventure and Nature Experience Tourism Circuit in Rizal.
The DOT-NCR’s domestic campaigns, on the other hand, include Metro Manila Travel by Hubs covering 10 cities within the region, and The Soul Circuit covering the regions of NCR, CALABARZON and Central Luzon.
“These are but a few of the many programs the DOT has taken part or initiated around our regions to help the tourism industry in its recovery. Like the national government, which is taking a “whole of nation” approach in its massive vaccination campaign, we, too, are hoping for the continued support of our LGUs around the country, and the private sector to push our recovery forward,” Puyat said.