DOT: Airlines, hotels to waive cancellation, rebooking fees for Boracay tourists

Airlines and hotels are willing to waive rebooking and cancellation fees for tourists who have already booked their flights and stay in Boracay, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said Sunday.

"Beforehand kausap na namin ang mga airlines... sila naman willing na i-waive ang mga refund fees, cancellation. Ibibigay nila nang buo ang [presyo] ng tickets at ang iba naman na magre-rebook wala nang rebooking penalties," Teo said in an online interview with Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson on DDS Podcast.

She said that once the island has been closed on April 26, local and foreign tourists will no longer be allowed to enter the island.

Teo, meanwhile, clarified that tourists who are already in Boracay and are booked past the date of the island resort's closure will not be asked to leave.

"'Pag booked na sila at April 26 ang closure they can still stay there hanggang matapos na ang kanilang stay," she said.

During the interview, the Tourism chief said workers who will be displaced by the six-month closure will be given financial assistance and temporary work by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

She said the Department of Tourism, Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority will also provide trainings for the residents and displaced workers.

"Kausap ko na ang DOLE, si Secretary Silvestre Bello, ang mga mawawalan ng trabaho hahanapan nila ng trabaho. DSWD, TESDA, and DOT will be there, magbibigay kami ng training. Pera, bibigyan sila, there are calamity funds for that," Teo said.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the closure of Boracay based on the recommendation of the DOT, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Teo said that before they submitted their recommendation to shutdown and rehabilitate Boracay for six months, they interviewed residents and they received several complaints.

The three departments came up with the recommendation after Duterte ordered them to clean "cesspool" Boracay in February. —ALG, GMA News