Baguio suspends approval of leisure travel requests

Baguio City has temporarily suspended the approval of leisure travel requests into the area, following the recorded growth in the COVID-19 cases, and the threat brought about by the Omicron variant.

In an advisory, the Baguio Tourism Office said leisure travel requests into the city under the Visitor Information and Travel Assistance (VISITA) platform were temporarily suspended starting Sunday, January 2, 2022, until further notice.

The city said all pre-approved travels with issued QR-coded tourist passes will still be honored and allowed entry on their declared travel datas, subject to the mandatory triage.

“Such allowed entry may change in the future but with prior announcement, so keep posted,” the advisory read.

“All pending travel requests are considered rejected and not allowed entry,” it added.

The city government noted, however, that authorized persons outside of residence (APORs) and essential or official travels can be accommodated in a separate portal—hdf.baguio.gov.ph—subject to documentary requirements and triage health screening.

The National Capital Region will be placed under Alert 3 starting Monday, January 3, until January 15, 2022, following the steep increase in new COVID-19 infections in the country.

The Philippines on Sunday recorded 4,600 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s active case tally to 21,418. The total caseload now stands at 2.851 million which includes 2.778 million recoveries and 51,570 deaths. — BM, GMA News