Philippines to offer quarantine-free travel to tourists from places on its green list, but main source market South Korea isn’t currently included

On January 6, 2012, the Philippines Department of Tourism unveiled a new tourism campaign: “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” It went viral. For a cyber-minute, it topped global Twitter trends and, according to the branding agency behind the slogan, “Google searches for the Philippines increased by 231% and the country’s tourist volumes hit an all-time high of 4.3 million, outgrowing leading rival market, Malaysia.”

Now, almost a decade later, the archipelagic country is keen to impress on international tourists how much “more fun” awaits when they return, in the latest campaign from its official tourism body. And that return could be soon, with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reporting that the nation will be “reopening to fully vaxxed tourists before year-end”.

“Allowing tourists from green countries or territories that have the majority of its population vaccinated and with low infection rate will greatly help our tourism efforts – increasing tourist arrivals and receipts among others,” tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a statement. “The move will likewise aid in bolstering consumer confidence, which is a large contributor to our gross domestic product.”

There are currently 44 places on the Philippines’ green list, including mainland China, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan. Notably absent is the nation’s largest pre-pandemic source market, South Korea, which accounted for 22.48 per cent of all 2019 arrivals, or 1.98 million visitors. (China followed closely, sending 1.74 million tourists that year, but travellers from the Middle Kingdom are unlikely to cross any borders until the country’s complicated quarantine regime has been lifted, or at least relaxed.)

South Korea sits on the yellow list (along with everywhere not on the green list, except the Faroe Islands and the Netherlands, which make up the red list). Unlike fully vaccinated foreign arrivals from green origins – who just need to show a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure to enter the Philippines – inoculated arrivals on the yellow list are subject to strict entry requirements, including a “facility based quarantine” stint. Frankly, it doesn’t sound appealing.

However, there is hope that South Koreans could again be checking out Bohol’s Chocolate Hills before long, with talks of a separate “vaccinated travel lane or bubble” under way, according to various sources. Indeed, when interviewed by Bloomberg TV on November 11, Romulo-Puyat made it clear where her priorities lay.

Thailand tourism is back in business, but who from Asia is visiting?

“We’ve been talking to Korea, of course,” she said, when asked about the possibility of travel bubbles. “They’re our number one tourists, they’ve been wanting to have chartered flights to Bohol […] but they’re still trying to figure out the quarantine days coming back, there’s no problem coming here.”

Therein lies the issue. As Reuters recently reported, the Philippines “has been one of the region’s worst hit countries in terms of [Covid-19] cases, deaths and economic losses”. And while infections have dropped significantly in recent weeks, only 30.1 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the latest figures from Our World in Data.

On Bloomberg TV, Romulo-Puyat assured viewers that that is not the case in tourism-dependent destinations such as Boracay, where, she said, more than 90 per cent of tourism workers and 80 per cent of the island’s eligible population had been inoculated. However, a country’s risk level is ascertained according to the entire population rather than selected segments of it.

Which is why, for South Koreans (possibly any tourists) to realistically make a comeback, a travel bubble is about the only option, and not just for the Philippines, but for other Asian countries hoping to inject some life into their tourism industries. Singapore has already opened one with South Korea, for instance.

It could happen for the Philippines. The PNA reported that “a proposal to establish a ‘vaccinated travel lane or bubble’ for the yellow list countries has been submitted” for the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is expected to issue guidelines “before the end of the month”.

Tourists from South Korea and beyond could be on their way to Bohol or Boracay by Christmas. After all, it is more fun in the Philippines.

South Korea’s most popular beaches being washed away

Meanwhile, “dozens of beaches in South Korea fear complete erosion”, according to Indian English-language news channel World is One News (WION). “Fast economic expansion is chewing away at some of South Korea’s most popular beaches,” WION reported on November 19. “Sacheonjin is one of 43 such beaches designated as having ‘serious’ coastal erosion as of 2020, up from 12 in 2018.”

Described as “a famous spot for vacationers and surfers”, Sacheonjin has been largely washed away by “high waves”, becoming yet another victim of the climate crisis. One resident interviewed by WION said: “The locals have never been this close, nor the waves this high for the past 12 years.”

“Sloppy development” has contributed to rising sea levels and Sacheonjin’s shrinking. “Until two years ago the shore was 40 metres [130 feet] wide, but now it has shrunk by three metres amid the wild, pounding waves.”

Thailand’s famous Maya Bay to reopen on January 1

One beach that should be in pristine condition is that in Maya Bay. Made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2000 film The Beach and then, in 2018, for becoming the very embodiment of overtourism – so much so it was closed to visitors indefinitely – the cove on Koh Phi Phi Le is finally reopening to travellers, on January 1.

“But, as with much of Thailand post-Covid [sic], there are new restrictions that will make the visitor experience to Maya Bay very different from the past,” news site The Thaiger reported on November 16.

Speedboats, which were particularly harmful to the surrounding corals, “won’t even be able to enter into the actual bay any more” according to The Thaiger. “A pier at the back of the island will now be the drop-off point where passengers will disembark and walk across protective boardwalks around the back of the beach. Visits will be capped at one hour with only 8 boats allowed to tie up at the pier at any one time. The trips will all take place between 10am and 4pm daily.”

However, those piers? They’re not quite ready, meaning “there’s a mad dash to get everything completed before the reopening at the start of next year”. Fingers crossed that mad dash is an environmentally friendly one.