MANILA – Tourists arriving in Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan could get up to 75-percent discount in hotel room rates to offset the cost of the mandatory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tests to enter the famed-island resort.
Gov. Florencio Miraflores of Aklan said tour operators and establishments agreed to give local tourists discounts.
“Para ma-offset ang cost ng RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test, magbibigay sila ng as much as 75 percent discount on room rates,” Miraflores said during Palace’s media briefing in Boracay on Monday.
Hennan resort chain owner Henry Chusuey, for his part, said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) should relax the tourist travel in Boracay to encourage them.
“It has to be easy for tourists to come here or else they will not come,” Chusuey said. “Tourism right now is not so essential, kung pahirapan mo sila, lalo sila ‘di pupunta.”
The IATF-EID allowed the reopening of Boracay Island to local tourists on Oct. 1 after initially welcoming only travelers from Western Visayas.
Those who want to visit Boracay need a negative coronavirus swab test result 48 to 72 hours before their trip. They also need to register online, the tourism department earlier said.
Boracay tourists should also wear anti-virus masks “all the time” and remove it only when they will plunge into the waters. The visitors were also advised to observe physical distancing./PN
