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Tourist destinations urged to adopt ‘safe bubble’ concept

By Roel Amazona

July 17, 2020, 3:44 pm

<p><strong>‘NEW NORMAL’ TOURISM</strong>. The Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte, the most visited destination in Eastern Visayas. The regional tourism office on Friday (July 17, 2020) encouraged the use of the “safe bubble” concept in accepting tourists under the new normal situation. <em>(Photo courtesy of the Department of Tourism)</em></p>

‘NEW NORMAL’ TOURISM. The Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte, the most visited destination in Eastern Visayas. The regional tourism office on Friday (July 17, 2020) encouraged the use of the “safe bubble” concept in accepting tourists under the new normal situation. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Tourism)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Tourism (DOT) 8 (Eastern Visayas) has encouraged the use of the “safe bubble” concept in accepting tourists under the new normal situation.

Under the concept, a maximum of 10 participants is allowed to visit a tourism destination.

Booking or pre-registration is encouraged to ensure that a limited number of guests is being observed under the new carrying capacity, DOT-8 Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said in an interview Friday.

“Safe bubble” refers to a group of individuals belonging to the same household or group and is confirmed to be non-virus carriers. Each member of the group should have the necessary certificate issued by the health authorities.

Tiopes said the new carrying capacity considers the allowable number of individuals in a given location amid the threats of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and the environmental impact posed by tourism activities.

Although pre-registration is encouraged, the tourism department said walk-in guests must not be turned down.

“Under (the) new normal, we recommend booking in advance, but nonetheless you cannot expect everybody to follow this immediately. So there will be a situation wherein people who did not pre-book will still go to your destination and we cannot close our eyes or close our doors, for that matter, and say sorry, we will not accept you,” she told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

“So, we have to reserve a certain number of slots to accommodate people who went out of their way to visit the sites.”

Walk-in clients must register and present all required documents to the visitor reception counter and undergo validation before being allowed to participate in the tour.

Only one representative of the group will be allowed to approach the reception counter and fill out the registration forms, waiver, and health declaration form.

Local tourists who came from the same area where the tourism destination is located should be the first to be convinced in visiting the site, which would bring back the energy, vibrancy, and dynamism of the tourism industry and help generate jobs, businesses, and livelihood.

“We wanted to show that our priority is the safety of everyone because it is our responsibility. This is one way of convincing and bringing back our visitors’ confidence to travel to our region. We cannot convince yet foreigners to come because they too are facing the Covid-19 problem in their area, not even tourists from other regions. So what we should do is to convince ourselves to visit the nearest tourist destination, then later on, visit other places in Eastern Visayas,” Tiopes said.

The tourism department earlier crafted guidelines for the new normal operation of tourism establishments and destinations.

It encourages the provincial, city, and municipal tourism offices, tourism destination management, and tour operators to establish a pre-booking mechanism for their respective tourism destinations. (PNA)



 

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