To ease the financial burden of would-be travelers in the new normal, the  Department  of  Tourism  (DOT), through its marketing arm Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), formally signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University  of  the  Philippines- Philippine  General  Hospital  (UP-PGH) to subsidize 50 percent of the P1,800 real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing cost administered by the hospital to support the gradual reopening of tourism. 

But the TPB said leisure travelers, across all ages, who intend to travel in any local tourism destination in the Philippines requiring a test-before-travel policy, can only avail of the P900 subsidized testing fee in PGH, not locally stranded individuals (LSIs), business travelers, government employees who plan to do “workation,” among others. 

On Tuesday afternoon, TPB Chief Operating Officer (COO) Atty. Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones and UP-PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Gap Legaspi signed the MOA, with tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat as one of the witnesses, to finally roll out the low-cost testing fee to restore confidence in safe  travel. 

The program will run until June 2021, covering the summer of next year.

“It is a pleasure for us to be the first institution to support this program of the Department of Tourism to further enhance our ability to have our tourists go around the country,” Legaspi said.

The  program  was  initiated  to  aid  about  11,000  qualified  domestic  tourists, with Filipino residents as priority. 

During the virtual ceremonial signing, Puyat said the DOT and TPB continue to work hand-in-hand  with  tourism  industry  stakeholders,  local  governments, and  other national government agencies to facilitate the reopening of tourist destinations that have put in place safety and health protocols. 

“I encourage our kababayans to book their travels now, and hope that this initiative will break the barrier for our domestic tourists to actually make plans, especially in this Christmas season,” she said.

Puyat noted that the subsidy project, with allocation of P9,999,900  is aligned with TPB’s Safe Bangon Turismo campaign and is expected to stimulate domestic travel to destinations declared safe by the national government’s COVID-19 task force and DOT such as Palawan, Boracay, Bohol, Baguio and Ilocos Norte. 

To  avail  of  the  subsidized testing fee,  tourists  must   register   at https://www.tpb.gov.ph/rtpcrphtravel/ five days before the scheduled departure date, and submit a copy of a valid government-issued ID, a copy of a confirmed accommodation booking at any DOT-accredited accommodation establishment, and proof of transportation roundtrip ticket for airline, bus, or ferry. 

The TPB will evaluate the documents and inform the tourist of the status of application within a reasonable time.

Qualified tourists will receive an email from UP-PGH to access the online Client Investigation Form (CIF) via https://cif.pgh.gov.ph and be notified  of their swab test schedule. 

Families and groups can be scheduled together, according to Legaspi. 

The swab test results can be released within 24 hours.

As   UP-PGH   can   only accommodate 100  RT-PCR  tests  per  day,  applications  will  be attended to on a first-come, first-served basis. Only those who have submitted the CIF online and have received confirmation of the swab test schedule will be accommodated. Walk-in requests will be denied.

Failure to show up on the scheduled date would forfeit the test subsidy. 

Asked if the DOT is exploring other institutions to make the same partnership, Puyat said the DOT and the TPB “are looking at it.”

The tourism chief earlier said she is supporting the proposal of the national government’s COVID-19 task force for local government units (LGUs) to adopt a uniform set of requirements that are within the existing omnibus interim guidelines for a seamless travel.

Puyat said the standard travel protocols that the LGUs can adopt may include the COVID-19 test-before-travel or test-upon-arrival options, the validity of the required COVID-19 test, confirmed hotel reservation with a DOT-accredited accommodation establishment, confirmed round-trip plane tickets, and tour itinerary with a DOT-accredited tour operator. 

With or without the pandemic, local travelers are the driving force of the tourism’s growth and development. In 2019, 10.8 percent of the 12.7 gross domestic product (GDP) share of tourism is attributed only to domestic tourism.