Puyat urges Filipinos: Once safe and travel restrictions lifted, travel locally

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat. (FILE) Photo courtesy of the Department of Tourism

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has one appeal to Filipinos once it is safe to travel and restrictions have been lifted: Travel locally.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net’s INQside Look, Puyat said that many Filipinos were already looking forward to their travels this Holy Week. However, due to the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus Bubble, these travels were halted.

“When travel restrictions are lifted, when the health experts tell us it is safe to do so, please travel locally. Support local and just have a safe trip,” Puyat said.

For now, those in the NCR Plus Bubble can support local businesses by buying products online.

Puyat said that when the pandemic started last year, the Philippines, like many other countries, did not know how to go about it since there is no “handbook” to address it.

“Right now, we know what to do. We know that we have to follow safety and health protocols—wearing of the mask, face shield, washing of the hands, sanitizing the hands, physical distancing—and meron ng vaccines,” Puyat said.

According to the tourism secretary, the latest survey they conducted with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) was “very telling” as it showed that Filipinos want to travel “for the sake of their sanity.”

“We’re looking forward to Holy Week. They were either going up to Baguio, going to Boracay, El Nido, Coron, Siargao, even staycation, a lot were already booked but ayun na nga, because of what happened, we had to stop non-essential travel,” Puyat said.

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