TACLOBAN CITY- Even owners of pasalubong (homecoming gift) centers in the city are feeling the crunch of the limited air flights at the Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport. In interviews, owners of the pasalubong centers selling local delicacies like “moron” and “binagol” claimed that the current situation at the DZR Airport has already resulted to the drop of their daily sales.
They said that the drop of their sales reached as high as 75 percent compare to their previous sales. The runway of the Tacloban airport is under repair reason why only small aircrafts are allowed to land at the said facility. Big airplanes of Airbus or Boeing types, which could carry more than a hundred passengers, are temporarily prohibited to use the airport.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), which runs the Tacloban airport, said that the repair of the runway could last six months. “Yes, the situation has affected us. In just a week’s observation, our sales dropped to 50%,” said Susan Altezor of the Cherry’s Refreshment, a specialty store selling local delicacies. It was the same thing for Edelyn Nato of Joedy’s Pasalubong Center.
“Our sales are not okay. If we have to compare our sales before last week’s happening, the number of buyers of our products dropped to 25%,” Nato said. While they have claimed that the repair of the runway at the DZR Airport had resulted for the decrease of their daily sales, they understand the situation. “We just have to accept it, we can’t do anything about it because it’s for the good of our city. We understand that because the airport was really damaged when supertyphoon Yolanda struck and it needs to be repaired,”Nato said.
Earlier, Tourism Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said that the limited number of airplanes landing at the DZR Airport would result to a drop of tourist arrivals in the region. (ROXANNE D. LOGATOC, LNU Intern)
