The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is supporting a proposal to allow fully-vaccinated foreign nationals to enter the Philippines in order to revive the country’s moribund tourism industry.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau backs the setting up of a “green lane” for vaccinated aliens in the different ports to pave the way for the reopening of tourist destinations, should the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approve it.
“The bureau supports this initiative by the Department of Tourism (DOT) as it will not only resuscitate our tourism industry, but also generate employment for millions of Filipinos who lost their jobs due to the pandemic,” Morente said.
He also said opening the country’s borders to international leisure travelers will also hasten the revival of the commercial aviation and shipping industries severely affected.by the pandemic.
Earlier, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat asked the IATF to approve the setting up of green lanes to facilitate the re-employment of tourism workers and revive the tourism industry under safe conditions.
Puyat said the scheme would allow vaccinated foreign travelers to visit the country for leisure as quarantine rules are being relaxed. Meanwhile, the government can continue its massive vaccination rollout for its citizens nationwide.
She also stressed the need for the Philippines to keep pace with its neighbors and the rest of the world in slowly reopening the country’s tourist destinations.
The BI is part of the small working group (SWG) headed by the DOT and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that's been tasked to study the feasibility of implementing the green lanes.
Also in the group are the Bureau of Quarantine, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Transportation, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and Department of Trade and Industry.