The Department of Tourism (DOT) will only allow staycations in hotels during the Holy Week in areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat issued interim operational guidelines to DOT-accredited hotel and other accommodation establishments, which took effect Monday, March 29, and will last until April 4.
Under the interim guidelines, the DOT has categorized the accommodation establishments based on the nature of their operations.
These are:
*Isolation facilities – for the isolation of COVID-19 positive guests
*Quarantine hotels – for quarantine of guests who may have been exposed to the virus
*Regular hotels – establishments that are neither isolation facilities nor quarantine hotels and that they were issued with Certificates of Authority to Operate for Staycation.
The advisory also said that regular hotels under enhanced community quarantine and modified ECQ can accommodate guests with long-term leases, locally stranded individuals or those transiting to their place of residence, and authorized persons outside of residence pursuant to their official duties.
These will also be allowed in areas under general community quarantine and MGCQ.
Regular hotels in GCQ and MGCQ will also be permitted to host business guests or guests whose travel is solely for work or business.
Only leisure guests will be allowed in regular hotels in areas under MGCQ, the advisory stressed.
Regular hotels in areas under GCQ and MGCQ may operate but is subject to the strict observance of minimum public health standards.
Negros Occidental and its capital city, Bacolod, are both under MGCQ.
CLOSED
The Sipalay City government announced Tuesday, March 30, that it will deny entry to tourists and visitors who will be visiting friends and family, walk-in guests without pre-booked accommodation, and those who will come for sightseeing or day trips starting March 31 to April 5 due to the ongoing contact tracing and high volume of pre-booked tourists and visitors for the Holy Week.
Only those with existing confirmed bookings and pre-arranged stay with families and friends on March 31 will be allowed to enter the city.
The Sagay City government also announced that it won’t allow entry of tourists yet to the Sagay Marine Reserve, which includes Carbin Reef, Panal Reef, Suyac Island Mangrove Ecopark, and Molocaboc Island due to the lack of the Maritime Industry Authority license of the passenger boat transport and other necessary permits.
The Candoni municipal government also announced that their tourist destinations including e Road to Tigmaya and Paco, Mt. Tahutay, Dragon Fruit Farm, Hinarap Falls, Sit-an Cave, and Twin Cave will temporarily be closed for visitors from April 1 to 4, while tourism destinations in Salvador Benedicto will remain open.*