OVER 10,000 foreign tourists have so far been assisted by the Department of Tourism (DOT) in being transferred from their holiday destinations in the provinces to urban cities where they could later take their homeward bound flights.
DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message, “Since the 72-hour rule for tourists to leave the country was lifted, we have been coordinating with airlines to facilitate the movement of tourists to Manila and Clark via sweeper flights.”
He added, military planes will also be used for the same purpose. He noted a C130 plane had already transported some tourists out of Cebu “before the lifting of the 72-hour rule.”
Aside from the sweeper flights that had been provided by major carriers, Boncato pointed out that DOT regional offices have also been moving tourists “via land in Luzon and sea, inter-island, like using the PCG [Philippine Coast Guard] boats to move tourists from Dumaguete to Cebu.”
In a travel advisory, meanwhile, the DOT said a temporary travel ban on foreigners has been implemented beginning March 22. “Only OFWs (overseas Filipino workers, repatriating Filipinos, their foreign spouses, and children (provided that the foreign spouse and children are traveling with the Filipino national), and foreign government or international organization officials accredited by the Philippines will be allowed to enter the country.”
The DOT also advised travelers to regularly coordinate with their airlines due to possible changes in schedules. “As the situation in the Philippines and foreign ports of entry evolve, airlines may change flight schedules from time to time to accommodate its passengers while complying with travel guidelines.”
Carriers that have provided sweeper flights, so-called because they are meant to collect stranded passengers, include Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific Air (CEB), PAL Express, the Ayala Group’s AirSWIFT, the Clark-based Royal Air Philippines, among others.
“For Boracay, for instance, we had four sweeper flights last Saturday and Sunday, and one more this Thursday,” said Boncato. “We had five sweeper flights out Siargao to Clark [last] Saturday and Sunday,” he added.
In Palawan, he said, there were many sweeper flights mounted by AirSWIFT. In Cebu, sweeper flights are being conducted by PAL.
Tourists who took the flights to Clark, but were booked on homeward bound flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay, were able to catch the premium Point-to-Point buses that shuttle between both airports, on their own accounts. The Department of Transportation had earlier allowed Genesis Transport, operator of the P2P shuttle to continue operations to help stranded passengers.
In a news statement released late Tuesday, the DOT said, of the 10,300 tourists it assisted, 7,915 were transferred via sweeper flights, while the rest were helped via the agency’s communications team in their inquiries. “The DOT has been doing everything within its resources to ease the congestion in the different regions by facilitating the movement of foreign tourists stranded in the different islands of the country,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat.
The DOT said additional sweeper flights will fly out of Iloilo, Tacloban, and Cagayan de Oro on Wednesday, while three sweeper flights are set to leave from Davao and Puerto Princesa on March 26. The agency has encouraged other stranded passengers to coordinate with DOT officials in their locations for possible assistance.
A list provided by the Tourism Congress of the Philippines obtained by the BusinessMirror, showed 7,915 stranded tourists assisted in transfers by the DOT as of March 23. The sweeper flights were from March 14 to March 22, and were as follows: Puerto Princesa-Clark (1,600 passengers) via other airlines from March 14 to 22; Coron-Clark (898 pax) via other airlines March 14-22; El Nido-Clark (2,550 pax) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; El Nido-Tagbilaran (23 pax) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; El Nido-Cebu (291) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; El Nido-Caticlan (19 pax) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; Puerto Princesa-Clark (234 pax) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; Coron-Clark (68 pax) via AirSWIFT March 15-22; Cebu-Manila (1,265 pax) via C130 and PAL March 15-22;
General Santos-Clark (56 pax) via CEB, March 19; Bacolod-Clark (135 pax) via CEB, March 19; Caticlan-Manila (500 pax) via Royal Air, 5 flights on March 21 and 22; and Siargao-Clark (332 pax) via PAL Express, 5 flights on March 21 and 22.