Cheaper, faster tests for Boracay visitors sought

ISLANDCLEANUP Boracay residents, including local photographers, clean up a stretch of the island’s white sand beach to prepare for the arrival of more visitors. —JACKJARILLA

Antigen testing could also be used for tourists going to Boracay as business operators lamented that the required reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test had discouraged people from visiting the resort island in Aklan province.

At a press conference in Boracay on Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the rapid antigen tests being piloted in Baguio City, if successful, could be replicated in other tourist destinations, like Boracay.

The test takes about 15 minutes to detect the coronavirus, which is faster than the release of results for the more expensive RT-PCR test.

Roque said business operators on the island had noted that the RT-PCR test, which had been required for nonresidents of Aklan, had affected arrivals even after the island accepted visitors from outside Western Visayas on Oct. 1.

“Let us wait for results of the antigen pilot testing (in Baguio). We cannot sacrifice the health of Boracay residents,” Roque said in the press conference, which was also attended by Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores, acting Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista and businessman Henry Chusuey, chair of the Henann Group of Resorts.

Roque, who spent the weekend in Boracay with a handful of support staff personnel to entice the public to visit the island, cited President Duterte’s message for Filipinos to “live in spite of COVID-19” by ensuring both their health and livelihood.

Slowly increasing

“It’s time for us to go on vacation after a very long lockdown, especially in Boracay. The most beautiful beach in the world, Boracay, is waiting for us and is open for business,” he said.

Roque said he would relay Boracay residents’ appeal to the President to visit the island despite the pandemic.

“I am really sad that so many lost their jobs here. That’s why I am here, to entice our countrymen, because [if] we don’t visit Boracay, airlines will have to cancel their flights if airplanes are not booked to full capacity. If that happens, it will be harder to go to Boracay and more businesses might go bankrupt and close down,” he said.
Miraflores said 35 tourists arrived on the island on Oct. 1, 47 on Oct. 2, and 53 on Oct. 3.

“It’s slowly increasing. We expect continued apprehension among tourists but we are expecting more tourists to come in the next few weeks and months,” he said.

Tourists going to Boracay are required to prebook their hotels and secure a negative RT-PCR test not later than 48 hours before their trip.

Business operators said tourists, including many from Iloilo province and other areas in Western Visayas, had canceled hotel reservations in Boracay due to the difficulty in getting tested before their trip.

Chusuey said antigen tests that could be administered in booths at the airport would be easier compared to the RT-PCR test, which costs between P4,000 and P12,000.

Nonessential

“It should be easier for tourists to come. I hope the government will take it into consideration, especially because tourism is not essential now,” he said.

Chusuey said that out of the six hotels his company operates, only one is open and out of the total 1,600 rooms, only 20 are occupied. Only 100 of about 2,200 employees are working.

Another business operator, who declined to be identified in this report, said the restrictions would “defeat the purpose” of opening the island to more tourists.

“Who would want to visit the island because of the hassle and cost of securing an RT-PCR test? If [the number of] tourists will not increase soon, airlines will stop flights going here and the reopening will be for nothing. Strict enforcement of masks, physical distancing, temperatures checks and other protocols should be enough,” the businessman said.