Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat announced that starting April 1, the Philippines will reopen its borders to all foreign tourists, including those from visa-exempt countries.
Puyat told Teleradyo that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) had approved the tourism industry’s expansion to all foreigners.
“Starting April 1, pumayag na ang IATF na all countries na ang papayagan dito. Noong February 10, nagbukas tayo for visa-free countries. Starting April 1, for all countries,” she said.
(The IATF has agreed foreigners will be allowed entry starting April 1. On February 10, we opened our doors to visitors from visa-free countries.)
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Philippines started allowing business and leisure travelers from 157 visa-free nations on February 10.
Entry is restricted to fully vaccinated international tourists from visa-free nations. They should also show a COVID-19 RT-PCR test result that was negative 48 hours before their trip.
Puyat added that the IATF’s rules for non-visa nations remain in place, with the addition of the option of providing a negative laboratory-based antigen result taken 24 hours before departure.
“Ang importante dito sa (what’s important is) lab-based antigen [as] it captures those that continue to test positive [but] recovered already,” Romulo-Puyat said.
PH to welcome foreign tourists starting April 1
When you acquire COVID-19, you usually test positive for the next three months for RT-PCR. However, she stated that the negative lab-based antigen now captures people who have recovered.
Puyat went on to say that since the Philippines opened its doors to foreign tourists in the wake of the pandemic, the country had seen 96,000 visitors.
“From February 10 to March 15, we’ve received already 96,096 tourists. So close to 100,000 na tayo na tourists. We’re pleasantly surprised, at least tuloy-tuloy na [its’ continuous]. And this is only from visa-free countries,” she added.
The National Capital Region and 47 other areas in the country will remain on Alert Level 1 until March 31.
The mayors who make up the Metro Manila Council (MMC) have previously recommended the implementation of Alert Level 0 in the region. However, MMDA General Manager Frisco San Juan Jr. said the mayors are ready to lower the alert level to 0 to fully open up the local economy.
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