To entice more domestic tourists to travel and enable faster recovery of the tourism industry amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, some popular destinations in the country have further eased restrictions for fully-vaccinated individuals.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) said 14 local government units (LGUs) with jurisdiction over tourist destinations have decided to scrap the swab test requirement for guests who already completed their COVID-19 jabs.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat welcomed this development, noting that the department has been pushing for lesser restrictions and requirements especially if the local travel destinations have high vaccination rates among its locals and tourism workers.
"We thank the LGUs for this development especially now that the number of tourists is slowly picking up. We hope that in the months ahead, we will achieve a hundred percent vaccination rate so we can push for a big move for tourism revival," Puyat said.
These are the destinations that have agreed to remove the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen testing for fully-vaccinated travelers as of Oct. 24:
• Cebu Province
• Lapu-Lapu City
• Catbalogan City
• Bohol
• Iloilo City
• Negros Occidental
• Clark Freeport Zone (except travelers from areas under ECQ)
• Subic Bay Freeport Zone
• Tarlac (for travelers coming from ECQ and MECQ areas)
• Masbate Province
• Southern Leyte
• Tacloban City
• Maasin City
• Misamis Oriental
According to the DOT, travelers bound to Bohol, Iloilo City, and Negros Occidental are required to present vaccination certificates acquired through VaxCertPH via the Department of Health (DOH) website.
Most of the remaining destinations on the list are requiring a vaccination card but the DOT advised travelers to check directly with the concerned LGU for the updated required entry documents.
Meanwhile, the world-famous Boracay Island still requires a negative RT-PCR swab test result for all allowed tourists like those from Metro Manila but except for tourists within Panay Island including Guimaras Province.
The provincial government of Aklan earlier announced its plan to lift the RT-PCR test requirement for fully vaccinated tourists visiting Boracay Island by the end of the month when it expects to inoculate the entire population of tourism workers and adult residents in the island.
"We are actively vaccinating lahat ng ating mga tourism workers para magkakumpyansa ang LGUs na tumanggap rin ng mga fully vaccinated (all of our tourism workers for the LGUs to be confident in accepting fully vaccinated tourists)," the DOT chief said.
Puyat also assured that the DOT will continue to work with the National Task Force Against COVID-19, LGUs, and the private sector to ensure that 100 percent of tourism workers in the country will receive their COVID-19 jabs before the end of the year.