MANILA, Philippines — With visa-on-arrivals removed since March 22 to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, the country saw “zero arrivals” since April.
This resulted in a decline of 62.21% in tourist arrivals between January to May this year with only 1,318,719 foreign visitors compared to the previous year’s high record of 3,489,270.
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14-day quarantine rule
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and Tourism Congress of the Philippine Jojo Clemente stressed that the travel ban in place is not only applicable to the Philippines but in many countries in the world.
Puyat said that during the Department of Tourism’s webinar with the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization, they are looking at reopening Spain in July but it was not specified yet which borders will reopen.
She said that the mandatory 14-day quarantine for tourists also remain in place in the country and may only be accepting tourists once this protocol has been lifted.
“Right now, either you are not allowed to go or are required to take the 14-day quarantine. I don’t think there’s a country that doesn’t require the mandatory 14-day quarantine,” the tourism chief said in mixed English and Filipino during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual forum on Wednesday.
Clemente agreed and said that the 14-day quarantine rule is the way of saying that only essential travels are allowed as majority will only get to stay in quarantine facilities.
“It’s the countries way of saying to stop traveling for now. So when you do the 14-day quarantine, only the essentials are allowed,” he said.
He added that those who would push through with their travels will be required to undergo rapid tests and other safety measures which makes traveling more tedious than before.
Puyat said this is also the reason why the government is preparing safety protocols, COVID-19 laboratories and other health facilities to allow foreign travels soon.
“So that when you get checked, as long as they are [COVID-19] negative, they don’t have to do the 14-day quarantine,” she added.
Domestic travels a priority
For its part, Ricky Isla, AirAsia Philippines CEO, said that the airlines already put together safe protocols in flying in compliance with the Inter-agency Task Force for COVID-19 and other agencies such as the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, “to give the best customer experience.”
He said AirAsia has been experiencing difficulties with international travels due to the different protocols of various countries.
“We agreed that our main focus is going to be specifically on domestic travels,” Isla said.
Isla said he sees a “faster off-take for domestic travels.”
As of writing, Isla said the domestic flights of their carrier is at 20% and they are looking at increasing it to 30% to 40% by July in the usual destination.
The low budget carrier is now flying to Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro via Clark, Manila and Cebu airports.
Next week, AirAsia is planning to reopen outer routes such as Puerto Princesa, Tagbilaran, Bacolod Kalibo and Caticlan which approximately comprise 80 to 90% of their destination for domestic travels.
On Thursday, the Boracay Inter-agency Task Force announced that the country's top tourist destination would reopen to tourists but only for those coming from Western Visayas in a bid to gradually reopen tourism in some COVID-19-free areas in the country.