Cebu tourism goes cashless

CEBU, Philippines —  Tour packages offered by the different destinations in the towns and cities of Cebu Province would now be paid online, as part of the safety measures that would be implemented to avoid transmission of COVID-19.

This means no walk-in guests will be allowed at the destinations, since all the reservations will be through an online booking portal that the Cebu Provincial Government, together with Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health and the PNP, would be creating.

Guests need not to pay the entrance and tour guides fees upon their arrival at the tourism site. This, as the Cebu Provincial Government will be implementing cashless transaction.

"Kung ang tanan moadto sa online portal, we will have control on the number of persons that will avail of a particular tourism activity. This time around we are not going for quantity, dili ni padaghanay, we are going for quality kay hinay hinay tang moabli dili nga kalit lang buksan ni nato nga magkagubot ta. No, we have to be able to manage this very very carefully," Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said in her virtual presser yesterday.

In the online booking portal, the tourists will fill out a form asking for their basic personal information and the travel history for the contact tracing purposes.

The payment for the tour package will be through money transfer establishments. Tour package includes the entrance fee, food, tour guide fees and other payments.

"After booking has been completed and once the tour packages has been fully paid, the guests shall be sent a radio frequency identification confirmation code or RFID confirmation code through their emails, Facebook messengers, Viber and other similar messaging platforms," Garcia said.

In the booking confirmation, the guest will be given the rules and regulations that will be implemented and have to be observed at the sites. They will be reminded again by these rules upon their arrival.

The RFID confirmation code shall be presented at the information desk at the site.  In exchange, the visitor will be given an RFID bracelet that he must wear for the whole duration of the activity. The RFID is single-use and cannot be used again if the visitor decides to visit again the site.

"Mahimo sad nga ang maong RFID bracelet nimo would also serve as an e-wallet nga mahimo ni nimo ang main RFID, loadan nimo sa usa ka money transfer like MLhuillier magload ba ka diha og five thousand it become your e-wallet nga kung duna kay ubang gusto paliton kadto na imong gamiton, cashless tanan, contactless na," Garcia.

On top of that, tourists must have their own air purifier, if they don't have one, there will be available disinfected air purifier for rent at the tourist site.

The tourist operator, including the personnel at the tourist destination especially those who will be briefing and entertaining the guests, must always wear facemask, face shield and air purifier.

Vehicles transporting guests to and from the destinations must not be airconditioned.

"If this is not possible, air purification system with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter and ionizer shall be installed in these vehicles. The capacity of these purification system shall be proportional with the size of the vehicles" Garcia said.

These guidelines are all incorporated in the governor's Executive Order 20-A prepared for the reopening of the tourism activities under the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) classification.  GAN (FREEMAN)