The decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to allow leisure travel for persons of all ages between the NCR Plus bubble and areas under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), spurred the Department of Tourism (DOT) through the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) to resume its program to subsidize 50 percent of the RT-PCR test for qualified domestic tourists.

Domestic tourists who meet the basic requirements of having confirmed round trip transportation tickets and a booking confirmation with a DOT-accredited accommodation establishment will be qualified for the subsidy.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that the move is expected to further help bring the tourism industry back to its feet.

“The Philippine tourism industry has been adversely affected by the pandemic. The subsidy aims to encourage domestic travel by aiding the tourists in fulfilling the RT-PCR test requirement, and to enable them to visit their destination of choice at a lesser cost,” Puyat said.

She stressed that the increased number of travelers could help boost consumer spending, which in turn could hasten economic recovery.

“We at the DOT are doing whatever we can to help the industry and its stakeholders recoup their losses and ensure security and sustainability amid this pandemic,” she added.

The TPB has an agreement with two government hospitals and their accredited COVID-19 laboratories for the subsidized RT-PCR testing program—the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) in Manila and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City.

The TPB is set to ink a new Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the PCMC to extend the RT-PCR Subsidy Program from July 1 to December 31, 2021, to benefit 13,333 local tourists.

To apply for the 50% RT-PCR test subsidy for tourists, visit https://www.tpb.gov.ph/rtpcrphtravel/