KALIBO, Aklan – With new restrictions on travelers from the National Capital Region (NCR), airline passenger demand for domestic flights in and out of Aklan is expected to drop.
This could further hurt Boracay Island’s tourism industry and economy.
The National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases announced travel restrictions on March 22. These are aimed at preventing a surge of more-contagious variants due to lack of compliance of the public with safety measures.
Kalibo airport manager Engineer Eusebio Monserate Jr. said only essential travel is allowed for domestic flights of the Philippine Airlines, Air Asia and Cebu Pacific (into and from Kalibo airport).
Non-essential travelers are advised to coordinate with airline companies to convert their tickets to travel vouchers, or make a rebooking for future travel, or seek a refund.
“Definitely apektado ang number of passengers. Nakikita natin na bababa ang numero ng pasahero papunta sa Kalibo dahil sa bagong restrictions,” said Monserate.
Prior to the new travel rules, the tourist traffic in Boracay improved to 800 to 1,000 daily. However, this is still below the 2019 levels.
In an advisory, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) also reminded air carriers to provide immediate notification of flight status to passengers whose flights are cancelled or postponed.
The travel restrictions are in effect from March 22, 2021 until April 4, 2021.
“All air carriers should ensure the departing, arriving or transiting passengers from highly urbanized cities of the NCR, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Bulacan are travelling for non-leisure purposes,” said CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla.
NCR, identified as the current hotspot, has recorded a sharp rise in cases, with more than 5,000 cases a day in March, its worst month since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic./PN
