Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 22) – Local authorities on Friday said they may consider easing travel restrictions by next month for fully vaccinated local tourists heading to Boracay Island.
Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores told the media that the provincial government will no longer require local tourists to present negative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results, once all tourism frontliners and eligible adult population on the island get fully vaccinated by November.
Miraflores said this would allow the economy to recover from the impact of reduced tourist arrivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By the end of the month or early next month, we will issue already the necessary executive order scrapping the requirements for RT-PCR tests,” the governor said.
“We need all the tourists to come. We’re barely scratching the surface,” he added, noting that only 700 tourists arrive in Boracay per day – way below its pre-pandemic daily average of 6,000.
Once the directive becomes official, fully vaccinated local tourists will only need to present a vaccine certificate from the Department of Information and Communications Technology VaxCertPH website, along with their Aklan QR code once they land at the Caticlan Airport. The QR code requires a confirmed hotel booking and flight information, and is used for entry, exit, and contact-tracing purposes during the tourist’s stay.
The negative RT-PCR result requirement will still be retained for those who only got one dose of a two-dose vaccine, as well as for unvaccinated local tourists.
The island is one of three destinations in the Philippines awarded with a Safe Travel Stamp by the World Travel and Tourism Council for adopting globally-recognized COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said based on data from their office in Region VI, 11,668 out of the 12,809 tourism frontliners have already been fully vaccinated. She and other local officials said they are confident they will reach complete vaccination by the end of October due to the arrival of over 35,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on the island.
“Mabilis magpadala ng bakuna sa Boracay kaya mabilis din sila mag-vaccinate [Delivery of vaccines to Boracay is fast that’s why vaccination is also quick]. I think Boracay will be the first tourist destination that will have 100% vaccination of not only tourism workers but residents,” Puyat said.
The Tourism department added that 299 accommodation establishments have been accredited by the agency as of October 18, bringing the total available rooms on the island’s hotels to 12,452.
Aklan is one of several provinces in the Philippines still under community quarantine classifications – with the province under General Community Quarantine as of October 16.
