Palau's tourism board alerts industry of growing dengue cases
Koror- Palau Visitors Authority has alerted the tourism industry of the growing cases of dengue fever and the need to help combat the outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus on fears that it might take a toll of the country's tourism already suffering from declining arrivals.I
Image by Himas Rafeek from Pixabay
“Due to the ongoing outbreak of dengue fever, we take this time to kindly remind all of our partners of the growing number of reported dengue fever cases in the past months, and out hand in combating this outbreak is imperative," PVA said in its letter to the industry members last week.
The letter comes after one tourist was reported as having been infected with dengue while on island for vacation, which could have a devastating effect to the tourism industry which is still reeling from low visitor arrivals.
Since the outbreak was declared on Dec. 7, 2018, with the first ever confirmed case of dengue serotype-3,
it has only worsened with more people being infected. The health ministry has reported that the number of cases have nearly quadrupled from May to July 2019.
Since Dec. 1, 2018 to Aug. 18, 2019, a total of 516 dengue cases have been confirmed. There has been one death attributed to dengue-related illness.
The areas that were most affected include the most populated state of Koror and nearby states of Airai and Aimeliik.
Koror is by far the center of most tourists activities. However, no dengue cases have been reported in the states of Ngiwal, Angaur, Sonsorol, and Hatohobei so far.
The tourism industry is urged to “ensure customer safety, we strongly recommend that you take precautionary and proactive measures by firstly, educating your staff and our guests.”
