“WEAR a mask, when it makes sense.” This was the statement of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat on Thursday after some confusion ensued regarding guidelines for tourists visiting Boracay Island, which opened on Thursday to accept guests even from general community quarantine (GCQ) areas.
“Of course, when you’re walking along the beach [wear a mask]. Pero kung nagswi-swimming ka, pwede naman siguro tanggalin na ang mask kasi baka naman ikamatay mo pa at malunod ka di ba? [But if you’re swimming, you can take off your mask, because you might die and you’ll drown because of it, right?],” she said, trying to keep a straight face, in an online presser.
On ANC last week, Acting Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista said tourists in Boracay should now wear “three-piece” swimsuits, i.e., a bikini and a mask. Aside from swimming, tourists can also enjoy scuba diving, paraw-sailing and island hopping activities, and even banana boat rides, he said at Thursday’s briefing from Crimson Boracay. While bars are open, only two drinks are allowed per customer.
Only seven tourists arrived on Boracay on Thursday, aboard a Cebu Pacific Airways flight from Manila. “Today we have seven arrivals, but we expect more to arrive in droves during Undas [All Saints’ Day/All Souls’ Day],” said the DOT chief who was supposed to be on the island, but ironically, spoke to media from Manila, after being instructed by her personal physician to self-quarantine. Although she tested negative in an RT-PCR test on Monday, she belatedly found out she had been exposed to a Covid-positive person, she said.
Romulo Puyat added, despite minimal arrivals on Thursday, government will have time to “test the protocols, and recalibrate accordingly.” The island’s acceptance of more tourists “is a crucial first step” for tourism to recover “because a lot of people have lost their jobs,” and help revive the economy.
“What could be a better way to herald the revival of Philippine tourism than the reopening of the world-renowned Boracay Island?” she underscored.
Three major carriers are cautiously mounting flights to Caticlan, the gateway to Boracay, and will add flights when needed.
(See, “Boracay tourists don’t need PNP travel OK,” in the BusinessMirror, September 30, 2020.)
Tourists to Boracay need to present a negative RT-PCR result, taken at least 48 hours before departure, a completed health declaration form that can be found on the Aklan government’s web site, and a confirmed booking with a DOT-accredited hotel. Each visitor who is cleared to travel to the island will be issued a unique personal QR code for monitoring.
But Romulo Puyat stressed, “Tourists should be on strict quarantine immediately after their RT-PCR test and until the time of travel to the island. This is to help ensure that they will remain Covid-free before they visit Boracay.”
There are 204 accredited accommodation establishments on Boracay, equivalent to 4,474 rooms available for booking. The DOT chief said the carrying capacity of the island continues to be 19,125 tourists at any given time, “but we will see if we should reduce this” due to Covid-19 health and safety restrictions.
Boracay, dubbed the crown jewel of Philippine tourism, received 307,338 visitors from January to March this year, down 40 percent from the same period in 2019. Of the total, 145,658 were foreigners, according to data from DOT Western Visayas, with tourists from South Korea accounting for 58,511; China 40,733; the United States 6,048; Russia 4,249, and the United Kingdom 3,767 leading the pack.
Similarly, total receipts for the first quarter of the year fell by 44 percent to reach P8.7 billion.
Image credits: Luca Roggero | Dreamstime.com