Cebu getting set to accept foreign tourists
CEBU CITY – The province of Cebu, one of the country's top tourist destinations, is gearing up for the country's reopening of its borders to fully vaccinated foreign tourists.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the province will immediately open its doors to foreign tourists once it finalizes its own protocols.
Garcia said she will be issuing a memorandum to serve as guidelines.
“This is in order to map out our own protocols here. And I’ll come up with a memorandum,” Garcia told reporters in a press briefing Monday, Feb. 7.
Accepting foreign tourists once again was discussed when Garcia on Monday met with travel and tourism stakeholders as well as Consuls General from South Korea, Japan, and China.
Among those present in the meeting were Consuls Toshihide Kawasaki (Japan), Jia Li (China), and Uhm Won Jae (South Korea).
The province's top foreign arrivals are those from China, Japan and South Korea.
Also present in the meeting were representatives from the Central Visayas offices of the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Health (DOH), and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), Hotel Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), airline companies, and tour operators.
The country restrictes international travels in 2020 when a pandemic was declared due to the deadly COVID-19.
The national government has announced that starting Feb. 10, the country will be reopening its doors to tourists from non-Visa countries again.
In opening its borders, the national government will still require unvaccinated tourists to undergo the mandatory facility-based quarantine except for the fully vaccinated tourists.
Arriving fully vaccinated tourists will be required to present negative RT-PCR results, indicating they were not infected at least 48 hours prior to their arrival.
Garcia said she will abide with most of the recommendations from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF).
Garcia, however, said the province may introduce new policies such as offering a single-jab COVID-19 vaccine to unvaccinated tourists.
Owing to its various outdoor activities like canyoneering, diving, and whale-shark watching, Cebu is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.
DOT figures showed that in 2019, Cebu attracted approximately 1.7 million foreign tourists, making the province, including the three large cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu, as the most visited place that year.