Philippines sees over 9K daily passenger arrivals with eased restrictions

More than 9,000 passengers are expected to arrive in the Philippines daily after the country opened its borders to leisure travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

BI port operations chief Carlos Capulong said the agency has implemented 100% onsite capacity work, adding that employees have resumed pre-pandemic shifting schedules as more arrivals are expected in the coming weeks.

“From around 8,000 daily passengers on the first week of implementation of our opened borders, we are now seeing more than 9,000 daily passengers,” Capulong said in a statement on Monday.

“We are expecting this gradual increase as we transition to the new normal,” he added.

Capulong said the number of arriving passengers might increase to 10,000 to 15,000 in the next few months.

Meanwhile, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he instructed border operations to prepare for the expected increase of travelers.

“We expect the number of travelers to further increase as the summer season approaches. This is a step towards the much-needed recovery of the tourism sector,” he added.

The BI earlier said over 200,000 international passengers arrived in the Philippines last month.

Morente said over 40% increase of international arriving travelers was recorded in February compared to January this year.—LDF, GMA News