Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco favored the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) to implement the optional wearing of face masks in public places which, she said, may attract more tourists to visit the country.
Frasco noted that based on a comparative analysis of mask mandates, the liberal use of face gear in five ASEAN countries that partially lifted the use of face masks did not appear to cause a rising of COVID-19 cases. These are Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“There seems to be no direct correlation between the lifting of mask mandates and the increase in COVID-19 cases, only that the lifting of the mask mandates has served to more than double the tourist arrivals in these countries,” Frasco said on Friday, Sept. 9.
The Tourism secretary also noted that aside from Singapore, other ASEAN countries saw a general increase in tourist arrivals after mask mandates were liberalized.
“The Philippines is currently in a position wherein its existing entry and stay policies for tourists convey only a partial reopening of the country to international travel. For this reason, the Philippines is immediately at a grave disadvantage as a tourism destination vis-à-vis its neighboring ASEAN member states because the latter, which are the Philippines’ direct tourism competitors, have all lifted their mask mandates either totally or partially,” she uttered.
She said that among ASEAN countries, the Philippines is one of the few countries that has not yet implemented the lifting of the face mask mandate.
She added that even the Western Hemisphere has also started lifting mask mandates in 2021. This includes the United Kingdom in April 2021; the rest of the European Union (EU) in May 2021, and the United States of America (USA) in June 2021.
Frasco cited the province of Cebu as a model in liberalizing mask mandates.
This is after Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia signed an order on June 8, 2022, to rationalize the wearing of face masks in the province.
“After lifting mask mandates, especially outdoors, Cebu has maintained a relatively low increase in the number of reported COVID-19 cases, and has maintained its risk classification at low levels,” Frasco echoed.