Cebu Province now open to tourists from other areas in PH

Cebu Province is now open to tourists from other areas in the country.

This was agreed upon during a meeting of the Cebu provincial government with tourist stakeholders on Thursday, February 11, according to the official news site of the provincial government, Sugbo News.

Sugbo News reported that tourists need only to book ahead in the province’s online tourism portal, and present their pre-booked reservations if they’re staying in hotels and resorts.

The provincial government said in a Facebook post that the Provincial Tourism Task Force will meet next week to finalize the guidelines, and that tour operators and representatives from shipping and airline companies will be invited to share their inputs.

Last week, the Cebu Provincial Government also minimized requirements for those authorized outside of residences and non-APOR traveling to the province. 

In the report, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia was quoted as citing the relatively looser restrictions for non-APOR for areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) under the Inter-Agency Task Force’s Omnibus guidelines.

“Interzonal movement of persons not authorized outside of residences or non-APOR between areas placed under GCQ and MGCQ for any purpose shall be permitted subject to reasonable regulations imposed by the LGU concerned, if any,” Garcia said in the report.

The province relaunched its tourism industry in August 2020, after Cebu was downgraded to the least retrictive MGCQ.

With tourism taking up the bulk of its economy, the province relied solely on its locals to resuscitate its economy. 

Despite having no immediate plans to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, Garcia had said in multiple public addresses that the province is “moving on” from the virus in order to put the economy back on its feet. 

As of Thursday, the province tallied 77 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active cases to 902. The total stands at 8,622 with 437 deaths and 7,283 recoveries. – Rappler.com