China Overseas Press, February 25. According to the Philippines "World Daily" WeChat public account "Philippine Island Express", recently, the Philippine House of Representatives said that due to the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the Philippine government should prepare for the unemployment of a large number of people who are unemployed . Affected by the travel ban, the Philippines is expected to lose 1.2 million Chinese tourists by 2020.
On February 23 local time, Johnny Pimentel, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, urged the government to prepare for a large number of people losing their jobs due to the decline of the tourism industry. "We must have a plan to help the army of the unemployed in the tourism industry," he said in a statement.
Pimentel predicts that the Philippines will lose as many as 1.2 million Chinese tourists in 2020, mainly due to the travel ban imposed on China. Even if the epidemic is suppressed and the ban is lifted, losses have been incurred and recovery has taken longer than expected.
He also urged the Ministry of Tourism and Labor to develop emergency skills training and reemployment programs for a large number of tourism workers facing layoffs, and the Social Security Agency (SSS) should pay 20,000 pesos in unemployment benefits to workers who have been forced to segregate.
According to data from the Ministry of Tourism, a total of nearly 1.8 million mainland Chinese tourists will visit the Philippines in 2019. If 1.2 million tourists are lost, it is equivalent to two-thirds of the loss.