The Department of Tourism (DOT) welcomes the decision of local government units (LGUs) with jurisdiction over tourist destinations to scrap the COVID-19 swab test requirement for fully vaccinated guests.
Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said the DOT has been pushing for lesser restrictions and requirements, especially if the local travel destinations have high vaccination rates among its locals and tourism workers.
“We thank the LGUs for this development especially now that the number of tourists is slowly picking up.”
“We thank the LGUs for this development especially now that the number of tourists is slowly picking up,” Romulo-Puyat said.
“We hope that in the months ahead, we will achieve a hundred percent vaccination rate so we can push for a big move for tourism revival,” the tourism chief added.
Lapu-Lapu City, Catbalogan City and Cebu Province no longer require RT-PCR and antigen testing.
Destinations that have agreed to the removal of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen testing are the following:
- Cebu Province
- Lapu-Lapu City
- Catbalogan City
Below are the destinations that require vaccination certificates acquired through VaxCertPH (doh.gov.ph)
- Bohol
- Iloilo City
- Negros Occidental
And lastly, the destinations that only require a vaccination card from visitors:
- Clark Freeport Zone (except areas under ECQ)
- Subic Bay Freeport Zone
- Tarlac (for areas under ECQ and MECQ)
- Masbate Province
- Southern Leyte
- Tacloban City
- Maasin City
- Misamis Oriental
On the other hand, Boracay Island still requires a negative RT-PCR swab test result for all allowed tourists, including those from the National Capital Region (NCR), except for tourists within Panay Island, including Guimaras Province.
Meanwhile, the tourism head noted that the DOT will continue to work with the National Task Force Against COVID-19, the LGUs, and the private sector to ensure that 100 percent of tourism workers in the country will receive their COVID-19 jabs by December 2021.
