Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat anticipates the approval this week of the guidelines on allowing foreign tourists from countries in the green list for implementation as soon as possible.
Puyat hopes this would help gradually revive the tourism industry whose contribution to the economy declined to 5.4 percent from 12.8 percent in 2019. This would also restore some of the 1.1-million jobs lost or displaced by the pandemic.
Puyat told the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has agreed in principle on reopening tourism to foreigners but the details and the terms and conditions have yet to be released.
Puyat also expressed hope for the further reduction of the number of quarantine days travellers from yellow countries from the current three days to encourage more balikbayans to visit the country around the holidays.
Most balikbayans come from yellow countries like the United States and Canada.
Balikbayans are the third biggest foreign source of visitors.
Visitors from green countries no longer need to quarantine as long as they are fully-vaccinated.
At present, only returning overseas Filipinos and balikbayans are allowed to travel to the country
In reopening the country to foreign tourists, Puyat said the DOT has been
observing the experience of other countries especially those in Asean which opened their doors to foreign tourists.
She said reopening is safe as long as minimum health protocols such as the wearing of masks are observed in the source countries and the visitors are fully-vaccinated.
