DOT expects guidelines for fully vaxxed foreign tourists from green countries soon

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said Monday that she is hopeful that the government will approve guidelines for the entry of fully vaccinated foreign tourists from green list or low-risk countries into the Philippines

“There was an IATF meeting last Thursday and the DOT [Department of Tourism] has long been in favor of this. It was approved in principle but there are still many details to be ironed out involving the conditions [in allowing entry],” Puyat said during the Laging Handa briefing.

“So we’re hoping by next week, we hope we will be able to implement it soon,” she added.

Included in list of green countries are :

• American Samoa
• Bhutan
• Chad
• China (Mainland)
• Comoros
• Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China)
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Kosovo
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Malawi
• Morocco
• Namibia
• Niger
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palau
• Paraguay
• Rwanda
• Saint Barthelemy
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Sint Eustatius
• South Africa
• Sudan
• Taiwan
• Togo
• Uganda
• United Arab Emirates
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Puyat lamented that the COVID-19 pandemic has already decreased tourism’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product to 5.4% from 12.8%, and that the number of tourism workers have also dwindled to 4.6 million from 5.7 million.

“And so we are really hoping that we can cater to domestic tourists as well as foreign tourists,” she pointed out.

Puyat then said that there will not be a cap on arriving foreign tourists from green list countries who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since these individuals are not required to go under quarantine anymore provided they present a negative RT-PCR test taken 72 hours prior to Philippine arrival.

“Hopefully, by this week, the conditions [for entry of foreign fully vaccinated tourists] can be approved this week so we can have a happy Christmas,” she added. — BM, GMA News