As of April 1, 2022, there will be no cap on the number of international tourists entering the Philippines through all ports of entry, according to an announcement made by the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The announcement was made following the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to eliminate the quota for unvaccinated passengers in all ports of entry.
Under Resolution 164-A, the IATF decided that a negative antigen test result taken within 24 hours from departure will now serve as an alternate option for arriving passengers, instead of the initial requirement for a negative PCR test taken 48 hours before departure.
According to Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, “This latest development opens the country to all fully vaccinated tourists from all countries and means our tourism industry is well on its way to recovery.
“We at the DOT thank our colleagues in the IATF for approving such measures that will help sustain the sector’s recovery in the coming months. We have high hopes that all of these will result in an uptick in international travelers visiting the country during the summer season.”
Philippine embassies and consulates worldwide will also resume issuing visas starting April 1, 2022, to coincide with the total removal of arrival quotas.
However, there are 157 countries whose citizens can enter the Philippines without a visa, among them Isreal, and IATF Resolution 164 also approves the reciprocal recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificates from these countries.
“While our domestic tourists have been the pillar of our recovery, we are also excited to welcome more foreign visitors in the weeks ahead. Such a move to further ease our borders and recognize the vaccination certificates of other countries is significant, noting that our top foreign markets were part of the visa-free countries,” added Romulo-Puyat.
It should be noted that the Philippines reopened its doors to foreign travelers from visa-free countries on February 10, as we reported here on Passport.News.
Based on DOT data from March 9, the number of arrivals to the country’s main airports has reached 76,736, out of which 43,249 were foreign tourists, while 33,487 were returning Filipinos.
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