(Photo courtesy of Intramuros Administration)
MANILA – The walled city of Intramuros is reopening three of its sites – Fort Santiago, Casa Manila Museum, and Baluarte de San Diego – starting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
In an announcement Tuesday night, the Intramuros administration said only visitors aged 15 years to 65 years would be allowed inside.
"Dungeons, Museo ni Rizal, Asean Gardens, and other sites are not yet open. Only Fort Santiago, Baluarte de San Diego, and Casa Manila Museum are open until further notice," it said in a Facebook post.
Regular operating hours would apply beginning February 18 – from 12 noon to 8 p.m. daily for Fort Santiago; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday for Casa Manila Museum; and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday for Baluarte de San Diego.
The entrance fee for each site costs PHP75 for adults and PHP50 for students and persons with disabilities.
To prevent overcrowding, a carrying capacity would be applied where only 100 people would be allowed in Fort Santiago at a time, 15 in Casa Manila, and 100 in Baluarte de San Diego.
Guests would also be required to register their visit on Staysafe.ph app before entering any site for contact-tracing purposes.
READ: Intramuros is Asia's leading tourist attraction: 2020 WTA
The announcement came after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) allowed last February 12 the reopening of libraries, archives, museums, cultural centers, and limited tourist attractions, such as parks, natural sites, and historical landmarks.
The IATF assured that minimum health and safety protocols would be in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), such as the strict implementation of the "no mask, no entry" policy, physical distancing of at least one meter, and mandatory temperature and symptoms screening.
Intramuros was hailed as Asia's leading tourist attraction in the 2020 World Travel Awards, besting world-class landmarks as India’s Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.
Its 2020 win was the second time it secured the title after getting the award in 2016.
Tailing the Filipino destination in last year's awards were the Angkor Temples in Cambodia, the Borobudur Temple Compounds in Indonesia, the Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, the Sengan-en and Shoko Shuseikan Museum in Japan, Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Japan, and the Terracotta Warriors and The Forbidden City in China. (PNA)
