More than half of the entire tourism workers population in the country have already been vaccinated against the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.

Based on data shared by the DOT, a total of 126,097 tourism workers from the A1 and A4 priority groups have completed their jabs as of September 10.

This translates to 51.40 percent of the target 245,338 tourism workers population across all regions in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The National Capital Region (NCR) registered the most number of vaccinated tourism workers at 94 percent, followed by the Davao Region (Region 11) with 88 percent, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 80 percent.

Tourism frontliners classified under A1 priority group are those working in accommodation establishments temporarily operating as quarantine hotels or isolation facilities, while those under A4 category are workers in other tourism enterprises and tourism support services.

Meanwhile, Puyat also called on all other workers in the sector to get vaccinated in line with the Department’s efforts to revive the country’s tourism industry.

“As we work to secure more vaccine doses that will help us achieve a 100 percent vaccination rate among tourism workers in the A1 and A4 priority groups, I am also encouraging our workers to submit themselves for vaccination especially with the presence of the Delta variant,” she said.

“Vaccinating our tourism workers is the only way we can continue to sustain the recovery of domestic tourism, especially with the presence of a new virus variant,” Puyat noted.

The tourism chief has been visiting major tourism destinations in the country such as Boracay, Bohol, Pampanga, Palawan, Siargao, and Baguio City to oversee the rollout of vaccination programs for tourism workers there.

In a recent budget deliberation at the House of Representatives, several lawmakers backed the proposal to increase DOT’s budget to aid in the recovery of the tourism industry which was among the hardest hit by the ongoing health crisis due to travel restrictions being imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

The DOT proposed P3.79 billion budget for the fiscal year 2022 for its plans and programs directed for the safe recovery of the sector.