The Department of Tourism (DOT) welcomed the decision of some local government units (LGUs) with jurisdiction over tourist destinations to scrap the COVID-19 swab test requirement for fully vaccinated guests.
Tourism Sec. Berna Romulo-Puyat said the DOT has been pushing for fewer restrictions and requirements, especially if the local travel destinations have high vaccination rates among its locals and tourism workers.
“We thank the LGUs for this development especially now that the number of tourists are slowly picking up. We hope that in the months ahead, we will achieve a hundred percent vaccination rate so we can push for a big move for tourism revival,” she said.
As of Oct. 24, the destinations that have agreed to the removal of the RT-PCR and antigen testing requirement are the following:
-Cebu Province
-Lapu-Lapu City
-Catbalogan City
Below are the destinations that require vaccination certificates acquired through VaxCertPH (doh.gov.ph):
-Bohol
-Iloilo City
-Negros Occidental
The destinations that only require a vaccination card from visitors are:
-Clark Freeport Zone (except areas under ECQ)
-Subic Bay Freeport Zone
-Tarlac (for areas under ECQ and MECQ)
-Masbate Province
-Southern Leyte
-Tacloban City
-Maasin City
-Misamis Oriental
On the other hand, Boracay Island still requires a negative RT-PCR swab test result for all allowed tourists, including those from the National Capital Region (NCR), except for tourists within Panay Island, including Guimaras province.
Meanwhile, Puyat said the DOT will continue to work with the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the LGUs, and the private sector to ensure that 100% of tourism workers in the country will receive their COVID-19 jabs by December. (DOT) – jlo
