TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat yesterday said more than 7,000 tourists have visited the Philippines since the government relaxed travel restrictions for foreign travelers amid the improving coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in the country.
Puyat, in an interview with ANC’s Headstart, said 7,051 arrivals were recorded from February 10 to 13.
Of this, the head of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said 45 percent were balikbayans who are already considered tourists as they possess foreign passports.
“I thought that only a few would come, but then I was so surprised that a lot came,” Puyat said, adding that many of those who arrived came to be reunited with their families and loved ones.
She added there were likewise foreigners looking into putting up businesses in the country.
The foreign tourists came from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea, among others.
Puyat said most of the tourists booked flights to the country after learning that the government has eased its restrictions on foreign travelers, particularly the lifting of the mandatory 14-day quarantine in a state-identified facility.
“If it is complicated to visit a country, they won’t come,” Puyat quoted tour operators as saying when asked what foreign travelers were concerned about when they inquired and made accommodation reservations.
Puyat said she never stopped courting foreign travelers from visiting the country’s tourism destinations.
“We were talking to them constantly. We even had sessions with our trade partners abroad and talked to the private sectors here,” Puyat said.
During the last World Travel Awards, the country won the best dive destination for the third year. “Even if it’s not their top of mind, they can remember and always mention the Philippines, particularly Palawan and Boracay,” she said.
“Now that the Philippines is open, the country’s more than 7,000 islands are just waiting for foreign visitors to come,” she added.
QUARANTINE HOTELS
Puyat said 76 quarantine hotels have already sought permission from the DOT to shift back to regular operations.
“When the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on accepting travelers from visa-free countries came out, I immediately called up all the stakeholders,” she said.
Hotel operators, she added, reacted positively: “Finally, we are going back to normal.”
“At the start of the pandemic, when the DOT asked the regular hotels to convert into quarantine hotels, many of them did,” the tourism chief noted.