TripZillaHave you been dreaming about Palawan’s clear turquoise waters and Boracay’s pristine White Beach? Or perhaps you’ve been wanting to visit the verdant island of Siargao, the Philippines’ best surfing destination. Your long wait will soon come to a close, as the Philippines will finally be reopening to international tourists in the foreseeable future!
Also read: Fully Vaccinated Travellers From the Philippines Can Visit the United Kingdom Without Quarantine
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), “has approved in principle the entry of fully vaccinated tourists from Green List countries/territories/jurisdictions” upon the request of DOT.
The Philippines is reopening to international leisure travellers soon
Image credit: Noriel Sanvictores
The IATF-EID is also expected to follow up the approval with their guidelines for the tourism industry. As per DOT Secretary Puyat, these proposed guidelines will allow the Philippines to open to leisure travellers who are part of the country’s Green List. As of writing, the following countries are classified under the Philippines’ Green List:
- 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
- Mali
- Marshall Islands
- Montserrat
- 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
Interested travellers should also remember that the Philippines will only welcome fully vaccinated travellers who have been inoculated with Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Covaxin, or Sputnik V.
Image credit: Cauayan Island Resort
The DOT Secretary also underscored how important it was to reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists coming from low-risk countries. “This move will likewise aid in bolstering consumer confidence, which is a large contributor to our gross domestic product or GDP growth,” she said. Before COVID-19, the tourism sector contributed 12.7% of the Philippines’ GDP in 2019. It unfortunately plummeted down to 5.4% in 2020.
Furthermore, the move to reopen also seemed to be inspired by the Philippines’ ASEAN neighbours, “Our ASEAN neighbours like Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia also did the same. We believe that it is also time for us to reopen our borders for inbound tourism as a way towards full recovery,” Puyat said.
Also read: Thailand Has Added Indonesia and the Philippines to Its Quarantine-Free List
The Philippines has fully vaccinated almost 40% of its target population for herd immunity; it aims to achieve 70% before the year ends. As of writing, the Philippines is logging less than 2,000 COVID-19 cases a day. So sit tight and stay tuned for more updates about the tourism reopening in the Philippines. There’s hopefully more good news to come.
Featured image credit: Michael Rivera | Unsplash
