PH to reopen borders to tourists from all countries on April 1
The Philippines is reopening its borders to tourists from all countries on April 1, according to Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.
Since Feb. 10, the country has been accepting fully-vaccinated business and leisure travelers from 157 visa-free nations. By April 1, the country will finally be open to visa countries as well.
"Starting April 1, pumayag na ang Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) na all countries na ang papayagan dito," Puyat said in an interview with DZMM TeleRadyo.
International passengers are no longer required to quarantine, but they still have to present a lab-based negative COVID-19 test result taken 24 hours before departure.
"[They] have a choice, either negative RT-PCR 48 hours before departure or a negative lab-based antigen test. It should be lab-based and not the home test kit. The lab-based antigen captures those that continue to test positive but have recovered already," Puyat added.
Since the Philippines reopened its international borders in February, the DOT has recorded over 96,000 tourist arrivals from South Korea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Vietnam, and Japan.
"We're pleasantly surprised, at least tuloy-tuloy na, and this is only from visa-free countries," the secretary said.
Recently, the DOT announced that accommodation establishments in areas under Alert levels 1, 2, and 3 can now allow guests to share rooms, even if they come from different households.