Malacañang on Monday said that an October reopening was being eyed for Bohol as the country pushes further its bid to revive the tourism sector.
“I understand Bohol might be opening soon within the month of October,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
Baguio City was reopened to Ilocos Region tourists starting Sept. 22. However, after a surge in Covid-19 cases in a village, the reopening date was moved to Oct. 1.
Boracay will also start accepting tourists on Oct. 1.
READ: Gov’t allows Boracay to accept tourists from GCQ, MGCQ areas
Roque said the tourism sector needed to be reopened—even amid the Covid-19 pandemic—to provide employment to Filipinos.
“Unti-unti naman pong nagbubukas ang ating mga tourist spots. It means that kinakailangan balansehin talaga natin iyong katotohanan na kinakailangan magtrabaho na iyong mga nagtatrabaho sa sektor ng turismo na pupuwede namang mangyari kung pangangalagaan natin ang ating kalusugan,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte had approved the “gradual” reopening of the tourism sector, but only with the assurance that health and safety measures were in place.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said reopening the tourism sector was necessary as the country could not “remain in lockdown forever.”
“Hindi naman po tayo puwedeng to remain in lockdown forever. We need to survive and we need to live with this virus, ang tinatawag nating new normal. So we just need to enforce these health standards that we have para lang masiguro po natin na hindi kakalat ang impeksiyon kung sakaling tayo ay magbukas ng ating mga sectors of society,” she said.
Vergeire also assured the public that that moves to reopen the tourism sector were well-strategized by concerned task forces and agencies.
“There are safeguards para hindi magkaroon nitong pagkalat ng impeksiyon kung saka-sakali. That’s why there are pathways that have been developed, there are specific strategies for testing and isolation that had been discussed at gagawan po ng guidelines para kapag binuksan po iyan ay may safeguard tayo,” she added. John Ezekiel J. Hirro