ILOILO – As an alternative to swab test, tourists bound for Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan are now allowed to undergo saliva coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test as travel requirement.
Yesterday, Aklan’s Gov. Florencio Miraflores confirmed that the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) has approved the proposal, “that will already take effect.”
“We will the issue necessary executive order and advisories to airlines bound for Caticlan,” Miraflores added.
The saliva test, however, should only be administered by the Philippine Red Cross and testing laboratories accredited by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health.
Persons will be required to salivate into sterile vials. Specimens would then be analyzed. The result may be released in three to four hours.
At P2,000, the saliva test is much cheaper than the swab/reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Prior to the latest BIATF resolution, the saliva test was only accepted for mainland Aklan travelers, not for Boracay tourists.
Miraflores is hopeful that with this latest development, foreign tourists from South Korea and China will soon be allowed again to visit the renowned tourist destination.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea and the China were the biggest tourist markets of Boracay.
“We are hoping that foreign tourists will come back within the year. Our Korean market is already preparing to comeback. I was informed they have been negotiating with hotels but this is still subject to BIATF rules and the DOT (Department of Tourism),” Miraflores said.
“We are working with the DOT to have a travel bubble with South Korea and China subject to the travel protocols of all parties,” he added.
Malay, Aklan acting mayor Frolibar Bautista and the DOT welcomed the BIATF approval of the saliva test, believing that it will further boost Boracay’s tourism.
“Nahihirapan na kami. We have no other industry except tourism,” Bautista said. “We are hopeful that the easing of travel requirements will help boost tourist arrivals.”
“We welcome the Boracay taskforce’s decision to allow saliva COVID-19 testing for tourists wishing to visit Boracay Island,” the DOT said in a separate statement. “But we remind the tourists and stakeholders to strictly observe minimum health and safety protocols.”/PN
