World-renowned Boracay Island in Aklan (JACK JARILLA / file photo)
MANILA, Philippines – Vaccinated tourists visiting Boracay will no longer be required to submit a confirmatory RT-PCR swab test starting November 16, Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores announced on Friday.
Miraflores said that instead of a negative swab test, fully vaccinated tourists will instead be asked to show proof of their inoculation.
“I’m happy to report na by November 16, next week, tatanggalin na namin yung requirement ng RT-PCR test sa mga lahat na pumupunta ng Boracay,” Miraflores said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
(I’m happy to report that by November 16, next week, we are removing the RT-PCR requirement for those visiting Boracay.)
“Ang kailangan na lang, kung kumuha sila ng QR code nila, ang kailangan na lang, instead ng RT-PCR test na nire-require namin, magsa-submit na lang sila ng vaccination certificate or VaxCertPH under the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) website, o kung mahirapan sila kumuha niyan, yung kanilang vaccination card na may QR code galing sa issuing LGU,” he added.
(They just need to get a QR code instead of an RT-PCR test and submit their vaccination certificate or VaxCertPH through the DICT website. If they will have a hard time securing that, they can just request for their vaccination card with QR code from their LGU.)
Miraflores said 94 percent of tourism workers in the island are already vaccinated against COVID-19.
Data shared by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat to INQUIRER.net showed that 12,039 tourism workers in Boracay are already fully vaccinated while 12,711 have received their first dose.
Romulo-Puyat said that with the high vaccination rate among tourism workers in the island, she hopes that the confidence of more Filipinos to travel will be restored, and that the island will be back on its feet sooner than anticipated.
“Our vaccination rollouts are crucial in protecting our tourism workers as they face visitors every day… The DOT is confident that in the weeks to come, tourism arrivals on the island will further increase and more tourism establishments will be able to reopen to restore jobs,” Romulo-Puyat said in a text message.