How domestic tourism is gradually reopening in PHL: QR codes, negative RT-PCR results, and more

Tourism is one of the most affected industries in the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Department of Tourism (DOT) is working hard to gradually resume domestic travel.

“From March, maybe January to August, we’ve had a 76.26% decrease, of course, in international arrivals because we’ve had no foreign tourists. And also the same in revenue, decline in revenue,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said in an interview on “Quarantined with Howie Severino.”

Puyat said in 2019, the tourism sector employed 5.7 million people, but because of COVID-19, around 4.8 million became unemployed or underemployed.

QR codes, negative RT-PCR test results

Puyat said opening Boracay to visitors from Western Visayas was a sort of a “dry run.” In a month, the island had more than 3,000 visitors.

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the local government’s request to remove age restrictions for those traveling to the island.

Traveling to Boracay is now possible for those coming from areas under modified general community quarantine and GCQ as long as strict protocols and other restrictions are applied.

There is an online system in place where travelers can get a QR code that will serve as their permit to travel, as well as their digital footprint for contact tracing purposes.

However, the tourism secretary reminded travelers that the virus is still out there.

“We are telling all the tourists and the travelers who are excited to go to Boracay, mayroon pang virus.  So please be responsible travelers. Always wear your mask, watch your distance at least one meter, wash your hands,” she said.

According to Puyat, the DOT is checking if the destinations are accredited and if hotel and resort facilities pass health and safety protocols, while the LGU is making sure that everyone on the island are complying with the strict measures.

There are also teams from the Philippine National Police called “tourist cops” who remind travelers of the protocols.

Before going to Boracay, a traveler must take an RT-PCR test and get a negative result within 48 hours.

“So dapat negative. And dapat kung immunocompromised ka, hindi ka na puwedeng pumunta,” she said.

Puyat said they also had dry runs for El Nido and certain parts of Palawan and in other parts of Bicol.

“We’ve already had dry runs for resorts point to point, from GCQ to MGCQ, no age restrictions basta may negative RT-PCR.  So we’ve been doing that for the past three months,” she said.

Puyat said after discussions with medical professionals and the IATF, the DOT received a go signal to allow travel as long as visitors got a negative RT-PCR test result and they didn’t have symptoms on the day of travel.

However, although senior citizens are allowed to travel, she said it’s better for them not to do so if they have existing health problems.

As of the interview, Puyat said there were no COVID-19 cases in Boracay, El Nido, and Panglao.

“Ang ginawa na lang namin also to make sure, all the employees were tested RT-PCR in preparation also for Oct. 1,” she said.

Puyat also stressed that a negative RT-PCR test result only meant that the person was negative during the time they took the test.

Citing a worst-case scenario when a person travels to Boracay and suddenly gets sick, Puyat said isolation facilities had also been prepared.

“’Yun pa lang i-isolate ka na and hindi ka na sasama sa jetty na papuntang island. Now let’s say pagdating mo sa Boracay itself may symptoms, right away there’s a COVID hotline and dadalhin ka na sa main island, doon ka na i-isolate at ipapa-test,” she said.

No alcohol and parties, limited accommodations

According to a survey DOT did with Asian Institute of Management, 77% of people are willing to travel in the absence of a vaccine, while 96% want to see health and safety protocols in place.

Puyat said swimming with social distancing is allowed, while parties and drinks are prohibited for now.

"We asked the mayor, i-close muna ’yung mga bar because it’s quite difficult to, paano mo ili-limit ang two bottles? At ’pag medyo ’pag lasing na, how can you? Kawawa naman ang PNP natin.”

Puyat said they are taking “baby steps” given that there is no vaccine yet.

“Paunti-unti muna kasi, ’di ba, nakasalalay rito ’yung hanapbuhay, ’yung maraming nawalan ng ... mga MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), ’yung mga driver,’ yung mga bellboy, ’yung mga waiter,” she said.

“Nakasalalay rito lahat. People are all watching kasi a lot of our tourist destinations, Howie, ayaw pa magbukas. So they’re all watching this kung ano’ng mangyayari. So maingat na maingat tayo,” she added.

Puyat also said that they were given health and safety protocols to “to 202 accommodations and resorts, mga 4,000 room. So with that, within carrying capacity. Hindi siksikan.”

Future plans

Puyat said there’s budget to help revive the domestic tourism industry, however, “nothing beats restarting tourism.”

The secretary said most provinces were still hesitant to accept tourists. “It’s like all eyes are on Baguio and on Boracay on how we will handle this,” she said.

Puyat said the goal was to reopen as many areas as possible, “but we also understand the fears of the residents.”

“So we need to instill the confidence in them. Like for example in Palawan, I flew there noong June and I talked to the mayors of El Nido, Coron and San Vicente. And sa El Nido pumayag sila pero one resort lang for dry run,” she said.

The secretary said according to their survey, Filipinos wanted to have sun, beach, and farm tourism in their travels.

“Gusto nila small. Small kunwari may tour groups, maliliit lang. Takot na lahat sa malalaki. Gusto lahat open air, mountain climbing, lahat basta open air,” she said.

Puyat said Baguio alone lost about P1.5 billion in three months, while El Nido, San Vicente, and Coron lost more than P10 billion.

Meanwhile, Puyat also talked about the possibility of opening doors to foreign tourists from countries with low to zero COVID-19 cases by having them arrive directly at the airports of their destinations instead of having to pass through Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“Ang suwerte natin for example in Panglao, it has an international airport, so puwede actually dumiretso ang isang bansa na low COVID case, hindi na kailangan dumaan sa NAIA. Puwede nang dumirteso sa Panglao,” she said.

“We have 12 international airports, so ’yun naman ’yung suwerte. Mayroon ding international airport ang Legaspi, ang Clark, tapos ang Boracay mayroon din. So ’yun might as well,” she added.

“Parang kasi ang thinking kasi ng lahat, ‘kailangan dumaan ako sa NAIA.’ Hindi. You can actually go straight to the tourist spot you want to go to and the tourist destination can accept from countries na kung saan mayroon silang confidence na mababa ang COVID case or halos wala na,” she said.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 in the tourism industry, Puyat said the one silver lining it brought was how the air and environment had become cleaner.

“And alam mo one thing that ... I’ve been always pushing for sustainable tourism. But you know one thing I was always pushing for was online,” she said.

“Online digital application and now because of COVID, people are forced to do that. Which actually makes it more efficient. Online payment, online booking or cashless transactions, it just makes business doing better.”

Puyat said tourism was the industry hit hardest by the pandemic, “but kami rin ’yung unang babangon. We are the most resilient industry and once ma-start natin ito, kami ang unang babangon at makakapag-spur ng economic activity.”

Cebu and Visayas were recently named the best island in Asia by Condé Nast Traveler’s 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards.

The other Philippine islands that made it in the list of Asia’s top 5 islands are Palawan at No. 4 and Siargao at No. 5. – Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/RC, GMA News