MANILA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) — May Retiro, a hotel worker in a Boracay Island resort in the central Philippines, found her life full of hopes again after the government decided to lift a nearly two-year ban on foreign visitors.

“I am very happy that we allow foreign tourists to revisit us after almost two years. It means that hotels can hire more workers again,” Retiro told Xinhua by phone.

Starting Thursday, the Southeast Asian country allows the entry of fully vaccinated travellers from 157 visa-free countries and regions after nearly two years of a travel ban to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Beaches with sunshine in the archipelago are now awaiting foreign visitors.

Still, the Philippine government requires the coming foreign tourists to present proof of complete vaccination, a negative RT-PCR test at least 48 hours before their departure, a return ticket, and a passport valid for six months.

The pandemic has badly hit the tourism sector in the Philippines, forcing hotels and airlines to lay off staff. Philippine Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said the pandemic affected almost 1.1 million workers in the tourism industry across the country.

Retiro is lucky enough to keep her job. According to her, the hotel maintained a few staff when there were no tourists to the island and gradually re-hired more when the coronavirus restrictions eased.

“We are ready to welcome foreign tourists again,” Puyat said on Thursday in a televised press conference, adding the Department of Tourism has been preparing for the return of foreign tourists.

She said more than 200 tourists, mainly from the United States, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia, are expected to land on the first day of the Philippines reopening its borders to foreign visitors.

“We are looking at tourists from our neighbouring Asian countries,” Puyat said, expressing hope that foreign traveler arrivals will sustain through this year.

“With the domestic tourism and the reopening of the Philippines to foreign tourists, we hope that more workers will get their jobs back,” the secretary added, noting that her department will make sure hospitality workers will get vaccinated.

According to Puyat, Boracay island remains the top tourist attraction in the country. Other popular destinations for foreign tourists include beaches and diving sites in Bohol, Palawan, Batangas, Baguio city and the Ilocos region in the northern Philippines.

“We mapped out a travel circuit that caters to all kinds of tourists, usually open air and open space,” Puyat said.

The circuit includes 70 destinations across the country that offer culinary tourism, wellness activities such as bike and motorcycle tourism, farm and agri-tourism, mountain climbing and diving, Puyat added.

Although not on the visa-free list, China is among the top sources of international tourists to the Philippines. “We look forward to having them again in our hotel,” Retiro said.

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