DOH's overreaction to A(H1N1) affecting domestic travel: official
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/04/2009 10:15 AM
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MANILA - The Philippines' domestic tourism is dipping because of the government's "overreaction" to the influenza A(H1N1) virus, a travel agencies' group head said Saturday.
"The problem with overreaction is that many Filipinos have delayed their domestic travel out of fear [of the virus]. Even [Filipinos] in America delayed [flights back home]," Robert Lim Joseph, president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), told radio dzMM.
Joseph said the country's domestic tourism has been suffering due to the global economic slowdown. He said the government's information campaign on A(H1N1) alarms local tourists, further affecting domestic travel.
The Naitas head said the government should relax its information campaign as it has been telling the public that the new influenza virus that has spread in the Philippines is mild.
He also scored "some people" in the Department of Health for taking advantage of the A(H1N1) for their political ambitions.
"Some people are saying that [A(H1N1)] is being used for politics because some people in the DOH are planning to run in the elections," Joseph said without naming the officials.
There were reports that Health Secretary Francisco Duque is planning to for senator under the administration's ticket in 2010.
Duque has announced that the DOH has already recorded more than 1,700 confiormed cases of A(H1N1) in the country as of July 1.
Both legislative branches -- House of Representatives and the Senate -- have cases of H1N1 infections. There are also more than 50 schools in the country who have students infected with the virus.
The DOH has also declared a low-level outbreak in Metro Manila.
The World Health Organization has ranked the Philippines 7th in the world in A(H1N1) cases.
Duque has said that one of the main reasons why the virus breached the country is the continuous flow of tourists from countries with confirmed cases of the virus.
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