The Philippines has approved a plan to soon allow entry to foreign tourists vaccinated against COVID-19, its tourism ministry said on Friday, following moves by other Southeast Asian countries to relax travel curbs.
The Philippine saw an 83% drop in foreign arrivals last year, receiving nearly 1.4 million visitors, compared to nearly 8.2 million in 2019. Japan, South Korea and China are its biggest tourism markets.
It imposed some of Asia’s tightest entry requirements during the pandemic and has been one of the region’s worst hit countries in terms of cases, deaths and economic losses. Just over a quarter of its population has been vaccinated.
Neighbours Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have also announced various degrees of reopening in recent weeks, after progress in vaccinating their local populations.
Allowing tourists from green countries or territories that have the majority of its population vaccinated and with low infection rate will greatly help in recovery efforts, tourism minister Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
