DOT hopes to open PH to all foreign travelers on April

The Department of Tourism said the Philippines hopes to welcome all foreign visitors next month.

According to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, the country has received 73,178 tourist arrivals since reopening to 157 visa-free countries last month.

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“We’re hoping that by April we’ll be open to all foreigners. The reason why we started with visa-free countries, this was also the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Paunti-unti muna (Little by little),” she told ANC’s Headstart.

“They have to open the consular offices all over the world. I hope it will be approved and we’ll be able to accept by April.”

From April 20 to 22, the Philippines will host 600 tourism and trade ministers and private sector executives for the World Travel & Tourism Council meeting, according to Romulo-Puyat.

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“It’s timely because Asia is the last [region] to reopen to tourism and it starts with the Philippines,” she said.

According to Romulo-Puyat, fully vaccinated travelers must merely submit a negative RT-PCR test 48 hours before arrival in the Philippines.

“We’re also proposing, in lieu of a negative RT-PCR 48 hours before, an antigen test within 24 hours. We wanna make it easier,” she said.

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“It also covers those who have recovered from COVID. With RT-PCR you can test positive for the next 3 months, negative antigen, of course from the laboratory, this can show you’re negative and recovered already for COVID.”

DOT hopes to open PH to all foreign travelers on April

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) operations at the airports are in full force as the country approaches its first month of implementing its eased border restrictions.

According to BI Port Operations Division Chief Atty. Carlos Capulong, they have already implemented the 100% on-site work capacity and have resumed their pre-pandemic shifting schedule as they expect that the number of arriving passengers will increase in the next few weeks.

“From around 8,000 daily passengers on the first week of implementation of our opened borders, we are now seeing more than 9,000 daily passengers,” said Capulong. “We are expecting this gradual increase as we transition to the new normal,” he added.

Capulong said that they are projecting that the figures will increase to 10-15k in the next few months.

Meanwhile, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he has ordered border operations to prepare for the expected increase in travelers. “We expect the number of travelers to further increase as the summer season approaches,” said Morente. “This is a step towards the much-needed recovery of the tourism sector,” he added.

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