ILOILO CITY — Local government units in Aklan and business owners on Boracay Island will ask the national government to scrap the requirement for a swab test for tourists going to the island resort.
In a meeting led by Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores, Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr., and Acting Mayor Frolibar Bautista of Malay town on Saturday, the stakeholders agreed to pass separate resolutions asking the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force to eliminate the requirement of a negative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for tourists going to Boracay.
“We agreed to formally ask the BIATF to scrap the RT-PCR test requirement as this has discouraged more tourists from going to the island,” Bautista told the INQUIRER on Sunday.
Bautista said that aside from requiring the submission of health declarations and temperature checks, strict enforcement of basic health protocols, such as the wearing of masks, physical distancing, and personal hygiene would be enforced.
Those who will pass resolutions this week include the three barangays of Boracay—Yapak, Balabag, and Manoc-Manoc—and Barangay Caticlan on the mainland. Transport and business groups will also ask them for the scrapping of the RT-PCR test.
The island reopened to tourists from Western Visayas on June 16 and to tourists from outside the region on Oct. 1. The negative RT-PCR test is among the requirements for tourists starting Oct. 1.
But business operators have complained that the requirement for a negative RT-PCR test result within 48 hours from going to the island has stopped tourists from going to the island. The test period was later extended to 72 hours.
They said the required RT-PCR test, which costs from P4,000 to P12,000 per person, has also discouraged tourists, even those from Western Visayas.
“Business establishments asked their workers to come back for work on October 1 expecting more tourists but they might send them home again if the tourist arrivals will not increase significantly,” Bautista said.
Boracay Island, whose economy is dependent on tourist arrivals, have been severely affected by the COVID-19 travel restrictions and community quarantine measures.
Many establishments have closed down, some permanently, and thousands of workers have been laid off or forced to go on unpaid leaves.
“We have to live with COVID-19 but remain careful and follow the health protocols,” Bautista said.
On Oct. 29, 294 tourists, including 264 from Metro Manila, arrived on the island, the highest single-day arrival since Oct. 1.
From Oct. 1 to 29, a total of 2,337 tourists arrived on the island, including 1,421 from Metro Manila. But tourists from Iloilo reached only 77, while the rest were mostly from Aklan.
Daily tourist arrivals reached from 4,000 to 5,000 before the pandemic.
The Department of Tourism earlier announced that it is allotting P8 million to cover the cost of the RT-PCR test for around 4,000 tourism workers in Boracay as part of efforts to revive the resort island’s tourism industry.
ZB