Tag Archives: Philippine

DOT holds meet for Philippine visa reforms

In anticipation of the surge of foreign tourists coming into the Philippines this summer season following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s directive for implementation of electronic visa systems, Department of Tourism (DOT), led by Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco, initiated a high-level convergence meeting with the heads and representatives of agencies such as Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Justice and Bureau of Immigration to discuss visa reforms to ease entry to the country’s tourist source markets. The event is in continuation of the talks initiated by DOT since September 2022 with the concerned agencies to take up visa concerns for key tourism markets in the hope of finding solutions affecting the flow of entry of international tourists. Addressing tourism bottlenecks While the Secretary has recognized tourism achievements made last year as the Philippines ended 2022 with 2.65 million international tourist arrivals, surpassing the targeted 1.7 million figures, she emphasized there are still bottlenecks, which prevent the Philippines from fully unlocking the global tourism potential.   “For this reason, our President has issued the directive to various government agencies to explore how the bottlenecks to travel into the Philippines may be addressed. He indicated one of the ways by which travel into the Philippines may be fully opened, especially to important markets. We must also explore the provision of electronic visas (e-Visa),” she said, citing the President’s directive that government agencies must explore the provision of e-visas to Chinese and Indian nationals. Indian tourist market’s potential Emphasizing the importance of the Indian tourist market, the DOT stated 58 per cent of the total Indian visitors are repeat travellers. Thus, the need to continue the efforts to …

Read More »

Philippines lifts ban on travellers from UAE

Philippine government has lifted the ban on travellers from over 30 countries including UAE, allowing Filipino citizens and foreign nationals to enter, subject to conditions. In compliance with the latest resolution released by the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF), passengers flying to the Philippines will be required to undergo RT-PCR testing on their 6th day of quarantine from date of arrival Apart from this, non-OFWs and foreign nationals will also need to show proof of a pre-booked accommodation for at least seven (7) nights in an accredited quarantine hotel/facility. CEB will continue to operate its domestic and international flights as scheduled. Before going to the airport, passengers are advised to check the real-time status of flights on our website. Passengers are advised to update their contact details to receive email notifications on flight reminders and updates. We continue to work closely with the various government authorities and will provide updates as necessary. For other questions or concerns, passengers may send a message via Charlie the chatbot on the Cebu Pacific website, or through CEB’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Read More »

Cebu Pacific to cancel Caticlan and Kalibo flights from April 26

After the Philippine government ordered to close Boracay Island for tourist activities, Cebu Pacific (CEB) is set to cancel flights to and from Caticlan and Kalibo from April 26 to October 27, 2018. To ensure continuity of commerce in Northern Panay Island and support local residents, CEB will still operate flights for Kalibo and Caticlan during the same period, stated a spokesperson for the carrier. Affected passengers will be compensated either by getting a full refund, rebooking the flight, or a rerouting to any domestic destination.

Read More »