Tourism destinations that reopened and still impose test-before-travel policy are the following: Boracay, Bohol, Ilocos Sur, El Nido, Coron, Puerto Princesa, and San Vicente in Palawan. Destinations that will open this month but also require a negative test result are Pangasinan and La Union.
Siargao, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, and Iloilo also require test before travel.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) through Resolution No. 101, has removed the mandatory testing except when the local government unit requires it before travel.
As almost majority of tourism destinations and resorts require the test-before-travel policy, airlines like AirAsia is supporting the cheaper RT PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test that use saliva to encourage domestic tourism travel.
This type of RT-PCR test, done by the Philippine Red Cross, only costs P2,000 as compared to the standard rate of P3,500 for a nasopharyngeal swab.
To date, only the Province of Bohol and Capiz are allowing the use of saliva RT-PCR for tourists. Aklan province and the cities of Bacolod and Davao meanwhile allow the saliva test for arriving residents only.
According to the Philippine Red Cross research team, the saliva RT-PCR test is 98.23 percent accurate compared with the RT-PCR swab test.
Given the go signal, AirAsia believes PRC’s 13 molecular laboratories throughout the country will be able to accommodate the number of applicants.
“Backed with strict safety and health protocols by different LGUs, airports and tourist destinations, and the ongoing campaigns of the Department of Tourism (DOT), we expect the number of tourists to go up in the months of April and May. We, at AirAsia, have been very supportive of the government in promoting tourism while keeping to the strictest health protocols. AirAsia’s newest campaign, “Tara with AirAsia” is expected to entice local travelers to REDiscover their favorite destinations,” Dailisan added.
