Eased Beijing travel rules cheer PHL tourism players By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM
Special to the BusinessMirror
B THE WORLD ›› A14
CHINA TO END QUARANTINES FOR INBOUND TRAVELERS AS ‘COVID ZERO’ DISMANTLED
EIJING’S recent easing of its zero Covid tolerance policy bodes well for international travel, with most countries, like the Philippines, heavily dependent on the Chinese market for tourism revenue. Starting January 8, passengers from other countries will no longer be quarantined upon arrival in China, with Beijing facilitat-
ing visa requests by foreigners especially for business travel, studies, and family reunions. While details are still scant on Beijing’s rules for outbound travel, it is already slowly lifting the number of international flights between China and the rest of the world, while passenger quotas will also be eased. Pioneering legacy flag carrier Philippine Airlines, for one, has already announced the resumption of its Xiamen service starting with one flight a week, to and from Manila beginning January 13.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Fe Abling Yu, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa), welcomed the surprising development in China: “We give a lot of importance to Chinese tourists,” with the market being the second largest, pre-pandemic, in the Philippines. Arrivals from China reached some 1.74 million in 2019, generating US$2.33 billion receipts.
Fully vaxxed only please
to require Chinese tourists to take a Covid-19 test at least 48 hours prior to their arrival in the Philippines, she doesn’t want this to cause any diplomatic rifts with China, which may feel it is being singled out. She recommended that government still require the Chinese tourists, like other foreign nationalities, to be fully vaccinated and present a vaccination certificate, “not just a vaccination card,” to ensure these travelers are healthy, “and also to
ALTHOUGH it would be preferable
See “Travel,” A2
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Wednesday, December 28, 2022 Vol. 18 No. 75
POOLED GFI FUNDS EYED FOR HOUSING PROGRAM T n
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 26 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Andrea E. San Juan
HE national government plans to pool resources from government financial institutions (GFIs), private sector partners, and local government units (LGUs) to build more housing projects for the Pambansang Pabahay program, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). DHSUD Avelino D. Tolentino III said in a televised interview on Tuesday that the housing program aims to adopt a “whole-of-nation approach” to build more houses under this program. In fact, he said GFIs such as the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Development Bank
of the Philippines (DBP), and the LandBank of the Philippines have committed to support the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino housing program to ensure that there will be developmental loans to kick-start the construction of the housing program. See “GFI,” A2
DOE SAYS GOVT TO GAIN P7B FROM ENERGY SAVINGS PLAN By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
T
H E D e p a r t me nt of Energy (DOE) has officia l ly proposed to President Marcos an administrative order that aims to speed up the implementation of energy efficiency policies to generate as much as P7 billion in peso savings or about 347.42 MW in energy savings. “The DOE has submitted to the Office of the President a proposed Administrative Order that will further accelerate the implementation
of these policies/resolutions, which is expected to result in annual government savings of almost P7 billion or equivalent to an energy savings of 347.42 MW,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said. He noted that as of December 13, the government has saved P284.93 million from existing policies related to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act of 2019. The DOE, through the Inter-Agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Committee See “DOE,” A2
DEPARTING international passengers are seen at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Tuesday morning, a scene that prompted an “all hands on deck” deployment by the Department of Transportation and Bureau of Immigration. DOTr Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, who visited Terminals 1, 2 and 3 on Tuesday morning, said they assigned crowd control personnel to monitor and coordinate with airline personnel at the check-in counters as immigration officials manned all counters to expedite the processing of departing passengers. Story below. NONIE REYES
DOTr’s Bautista checks NAIA as holiday tourists exit airports By Nonilon G. Reyes
T
HOUSANDS of departing international passengers flocked to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminals Tuesday morning, mostly bound for South Korea and other Asian countries with connecting flights to United States and Canada after spending Christmas here in the country. Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, who visited terminals 1,2 and 3 on Tuesday morning, said they assigned crowd control personnel to monitor and coordinate with airline personnel at the check-in counters as immigration officials manned all
counters to expedite the processing of departing passengers. Bautista noted that travelers now experience a less stressful airport experience after the initial security checks at the airport entrance were removed as requested by passengers who used to brave long lines outside the building. On Tuesday morning, Bautista said he saw thousands of departing passengers line up at the airline check-in counters at NAIA Terminal 1, but in a few minutes the long lines of passengers had eased. Dana Sandoval, immigration spokesperson, said that all immigration counters are manned by See “Tourists,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.2710 n JAPAN 0.4160 n UK 66.7066 n HK 7.0806 n CHINA 7.9374 n SINGAPORE 41.0174 n AUSTRALIA 37.1753 n EU 58.8028 n KOREA 0.0434 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.6958 Source:
BSP (27 December 2022)