3 Department of Tourism-Philippines

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM

Kagawaran ng Turismo

 
       

PST:  8:36:19

Local News

 

"The partnership of the public and private sector to ensure the safety and sustainability of tourism should be a model for other island destinations in the country," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said during the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force BIATF meeting in Boracay on June 11, 2020.

"What we saw today is the concerted effort on the part of the Local Government of Malay, Aklan, the various stakeholders and even those outside of the island to show ensuring the safety of visitors to the island is a collective responsibility of everyone," Secretary Puyat further noted.

Let me take this opportunity to thank the Makati Medical Center group for its assistance in recently providing the Ciriaco S. Tirol Hospital and Boracay Clinic with various medical equipment and in training the local medical staff. Meanwhile, I’d also like to thank the Filinvest City Foundation, in partnership with Crimson Hotel Boracay, for donating an RT-PCR machine which will be housed in the Covid-19 Laboratory being completed at the Dr. Rafael Tumbokon Memorial Hospital in Kalibo.

Now, in-light of the extension, it is the BIATF’s goal to not only strike a balance between economic gains and social responsibilities but also on safety, health and sanitation. Let us not undo the gains we have achieved last year. Just as Boracay helped the country bring in more than 8 million foreign tourists in 2019, it will once again be a key component in reviving tourism in light of the pandemic.

Last year, Boracay was a model of sustainable tourism. This time, let us work hand-in-hand to make it a model of safe travel as well. We will open our doors to tourism slowly but surely. And slowly but surely, we will recover as one," she added.



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