The Department of Tourism (DOT) yesterday said that it welcomes the decision of local government units (LGUs) with jurisdiction over tourist destinations to scrap the COVID-19 swab test requirement for fully vaccinated guests.
Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said the DOT has been pushing for lesser 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 October 24, destinations that have agreed to the removal of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen testing are the following: Cebu Province, Lapu-Lapu City and Catbalogan City in Samar
Destinations that require vaccination certificates acquired through VaxCertPH from the doh.gov.ph website include Bohol, Iloilo City and Negros Occidental.
And lastly, the destinations that only require a vaccination card from visitors include 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, and 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 noted that the DOT will continue to work with the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the LGUs, and private sector to ensure that 100 percent of tourism workers in the country will receive their COVID-19 jabs by December 2021.
