1,000 unvaxxed travelers a day

CEBU, Philippines —  The Mactan Cebu International Airport is setting a cap for unvaccinated foreign travelers entering the Philippines through Cebu beginning March 1, 2022.

Quoting Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager Julius Neri, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said MCIAA has decided to put a 1,000 passenger cap a day so as not to overwhelm the quarantine hotel rooms.

“They put that cap kay ang ato lagi’ng hotel rooms, kay five-day quarantine gud so for 1,000 you need 5,000 rooms for five days, so they put that cap,” Garcia said.

But the numbers of unvaccinated travelers arriving at the Cebu airport are few.

“Pero ingon sya (Neri), dyutay na kayo ang unvaccinated… sometimes, naay moabot mga 100, mao na ilang cap, pero arrival for other kuan (vaccinated traveler), wala na,” Garcia said.

In the hopes of reviving an ailing tourism industry pounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cebu will already start welcoming foreign tourists. 

In Garcia’s executive order, Cebu also welcomes unvaccinated foreign tourists under certain conditions – that they present a negative RT-PCR test result taken within 48 hours prior to departure from the country of origin, that they be swabbed upon arrival at the airport, and that they quarantine for five days until the swab result comes out.

Unvaccinated foreign tourists are also encouraged to get a single dose COVID vaccine while in Cebu.

The governor reiterated that several local government units in Cebu Province are dependent highly on tourism as economic driver, and foreign tourists play a role in reviving the local industry.

“Several local government units are dependent upon the tourism economy. Though local tourists may help, they are not the backbone of tourism industry. It’s our arrivals from Korea, Japan, from China, from the US and so I read, I studied, I analyzed, I took into consideration all conditions on the ground,” Garcia said.

In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cebu was second most preferred destination in the Philippines by foreign visitors next to Boracay, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the island attracted 1.4 million foreign tourists that year. MCIA, meanwhile, recorded up to 3.9 million foreign arrivals in the first 11 months of 2019.

Central Visayas, which is composed of Cebu, Bohol, Negros, and Siquijor, is, at large, dependent highly on tourism for its economy. – JMO (FREEMAN)