By Katrina Gracia Consebido
The national government has replaced contact tracing platform One Health Pass with the new e-ARRIVAL CARD to provide convenience to Filipino and foreign travelers bound to the Philippines.
According to Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, the establishment of the arrival card is part of the Marcos administration’s goal of easing some protocols to encourage more tourists to ramp up the country’s tourism industry.
The new arrival card serves as travelers’ health declaration upon arriving in the country. This also brings a simpler and swift completion process of the traveler registration process after some items that need to be filled out were removed.
The travelers will be issued a personal QR code after providing their travel details, basic information, health declaration, and vaccination details. A screenshot of the QR code shall be presented to the Bureau of Quarantine officer.
If the traveler will not be able to comply with the arrival card, a staff stationed at the airport will be assisting them.
Meanwhile, Frasco vowed to continue to improve services in their department with the help of other state agencies to provide a stress-free experience to all the tourists.
“We at the DOT [Department of Tourism] look forward to continuing this synergistic approach to the improvement of the overall tourist experience through close collaboration with our partner national government agencies under the guidance of President Marcos,” she said.
“Our shared aspiration is to provide travelers with better and stress-free services through continuous improvement of tourism enabling mechanisms in the country, digitalization, and liberalized entry protocols that provide the least inconvenience to travelers and convey that the Philippines is open and ready to receive travelers,” she added. –ag
