PANDEMIC REDRESS

DOT expects rise of NCR dine-in ops as vaccine coverage widens

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said Thursday that operational capacity of dine-in places in Department of Tourism (DOT)-accredited hotels and other restaurants should be increased beyond 10% in the National Capital Region as COVID-19 vaccination coverage widens in the area.

Puyat made the call on Thursday (September 30), which is supposedly the last day of the implementation of COVID-19  Alert Level 4 status in Metro Manila, under which only 10% operational capacity for dine-in places is allowed, and exclusively for fully-vaccinated customers. 

"The IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) is meeting this afternoon, and we hope the 10% limit can be increased because 99% of workers in DOT-accredited hotels restaurants located in Metro Manila are already fully vaccinated against COVID-19," Puyat said during the Laging Handa briefing.

"Dining in is part of the tourists' experience," she added.

Puyat, however, said that easing such dine-in restrictions is just the tip of the iceberg since most local government units hosting tourist destinations outside Metro Manila still require a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test on top of the visitor being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Each RT-PCR test costs around P3,000, but the DOT is subsidizing part of the cost to make it P750 for each qualified tourist.

"We will continue that subsidy as long as we have budget," Puyat said.

On the other hand, Puyat said that on a nationwide scale, the COVID-19 vaccine coverage among tourism workers is just 53%, with only Baguio City and Coron, Palawan reaching 100%.

"Camiguin [still] needs to vaccinate 4,000 tourism workers," she said.

"Vaccination is really important, so when we open tourism, it will gradually increase operation rather than opening only to close later," she added. —LBG, GMA News