BI sees more visitors to PH as boosted travelers no longer need RT-PCR test

Bureau of Immigration in Intramuros, Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday lauded the decision to ditch COVID-19 pre-departure tests for inbound travelers who are fully vaccinated and had received at least a booster dose.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement they are expecting more visitors to the Philippines amid the latest policy.

“With this development, travel will be easier in the new normal,” he said. “We hope that this will boost the number of international arrivals in the next few months.”

According to Morente, arrivals have increased since February with a record of around 15,000 visitors per day, “but plateaued at the tail end of summer.”

“We are hoping that little by little, the country’s international tourism sector can once again flourish as we move towards the new normal,” he said.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) has advised that effective May 30, fully vaccinated foreign nationals with booster shots are exempted from the negative RT-PCR test requirement.

READ: PH scraps pre-departure RT-PCR test for fully vaxxed, boostered tourists

Also exempted from the negative RT-PCR test requirement are fully vaccinated minors aged 12-17, and kids below 12 years old, regardless of vaccination status.

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