Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat is optimistic that more foreign tourists would visit the country as the Philippines re-opened its borders to foreign travellerrs.
Puyat said the numbers of foreign traveler arrivals in the country since the re-opening of Philippine border on Feb. 10 is encouraging at more than 9,000.
“International travel and tourism saw an unprecedented decline in visitor arrivals amid the pandemic. The reopening of Philippines’ borders to visitors from visa-free countries will surely help in improving our numbers," said Puyat.
"We at the DOT are excited to see a revival in our local tourism and will continue to support our partners in achieving this goal,” she added.
The DOT and the entire tourism sector are expected to largely contribute in the country’s bid to bounce back economically after local businesses struggled since the start of lockdowns due to the pandemic in March 2020.
Since the reopening of the borders to foreigners from visa-free countries and Filipinos working abroad, the country has received a total of 9,283. In the DOT data, it showed that 4,209 are ‘balikbayans’ while 5,074 are foreign tourists as of Monday, Feb. 14.
Tourists from the United States of America (USA) make up the largest chunk of foreign tourists during the four-day period with 2,227 arrivals, followed by 661 from Canada, 404 from Australia, 344 from the United Kingdom, 189 from South Korea, 169 from Japan, and 168 from Germany.
Puyat said the country is ready for the influx of foreign travelers as 90 percent of its target tourism workers nationwide are fully-vaccinated.
“The DOT’s goal has since shifted to providing fully vaccinated workers with booster shots, which will not only give them extra protection against the virus, but will also add to the confidence of local and foreign tourists as they make their way to the country’s many breathtaking destinations,” said Puyat.
Last Friday, a total of 323,206 individuals or 93.09 percent of the DOT’s nationwide target of 353,075 tourism workers in various tourism-related industries are already completely inoculated against COVID-19. Of this, 57,347 or 17.74 percent have already received their booster COVID-19 shots.
The department is aggressive in reminding that fully vaccinated tourists are required to present proof of vaccination as approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force For the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) or the World Health Organization (WHO).
Tourists also need to show negative RT-PCR test results taken within 48 hours prior to departure to their country of origin.