More than 7,000 foreign tourists arrived in the Philippines since the country has reopened its borders on Feb. 10, the Department of Tourism (DOT) disclosed on Monday, Feb. 14.
DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the influx of foreign tourists is a big boost for the government's move for economic recovery.
“We’ve already had about 7,051 tourist arrivals but of course, 45 percent are balikbayans but balikbayans are considered tourists because they have foreign passports,” Puyat said during her interview on ANC on Monday, Feb. 14.
The reopening of the Philippines to foreign travelers are from 157 countries that have visa-free arrangements with the Philippine government.
So far, majority of the visitors that came in the last three days are from the US, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, although prior to the reopening last week, Japanese and Koreans have already traveled here.
As per the guidelines of the IATF-EID Resolution 160-B and amendments approved by the task force in Resolution 160-D, foreign tourists coming from various visa-free countries must be able to present documents upon their arrival in the Philippines.
These include an acceptable proof of vaccination, a negative result of an RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours before the date and time of departure from the country of origin or first port of embarkation in a continuous travel to the Philippines, excluding layovers for their return journey.
Valid tickets for their return journey to the port of origin or next port of destination not later than thirty (30) days from date of arrival in the Philippines, except for Filipino citizens and former Filipino citizens with balikbayan privilege (under R.A. No. 9174) and their foreign spouses and/or children.
Passports valid for a period of at least six months at the time of their arrival to the Philippines and travel insurance for COVID-19 treatment costs from reputed insurers, with a minimum coverage of USD 35,000 for the duration of their stay in the Philippines.