Bohol has officially opens its doors to leisure tourists starting on Dec. 15, 2020 from places classified under general community quarantine (GCQ).
On Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, Tourism Sec. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat formally announced Bohol’s plan to accept frequent individual travelers (FIT) and leisure travelers.
She made the announcement during the press conference attended by some government ofticials including Gov. Arthur Yap and Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) chief operating officer (COO) Ma. Antoinette Velasco-Allones.
“The hotels are ready, they don’t only have DOT (Department of Tourism) accreditation, but also the UBE or Ultimate Bohol Experience seal. It passed all the stringent health and safety protocols,” the DOT secretary added during a press conference yesterday.
Yap, for his part, said the tourism stakeholders in the province decided to open the tourism sector here as the tourist arrivals who are supposed to join meeting, incentives, conferences, and exhibition (MICE) events are less than desirable.
The governor said in an earlier engagement with the Bohol media that since the opening of the tourism industry here for MICE events last Nov. 15, 2020, only 36 tourists visited Panglao Island.
In order to restart the economy of Bohol, there is a need to accept more tourists who are visiting for leisure and not just for MICE events, Yap said.
Bohol’s economy is at least 70% dependent on tourism, the governor added.
Meanwhile, to encourage more tourists to come to tourism destinations such as Bohol, the DOT, via the TPB, will soon forge a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for the latter to provide subsidized polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
It was revealed during the press conference that the TPB will be providing a P10 billion budget to subsidize the PCR tests of tourists.
The PGH offers an affordable rate of P1,800 per PCR test. With the subsidy, the cost is pegged at P900, Allones said.