{"id":270413,"date":"2020-09-30T07:34:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T11:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=270413"},"modified":"2020-09-30T07:34:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T11:34:57","slug":"dot-releases-guidelines-for-staycation-in-gcq-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/30\/dot-releases-guidelines-for-staycation-in-gcq-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"DOT releases guidelines for ‘staycation’ in GCQ areas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Each staycation guest shall be required to present a negative result from a rapid antigen test conducted on the same day of check-in. (Pexels photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Tourism (DOT) has issued strict guidelines for \u201cstaycations\u201d as part of the government efforts to re-start the economy through tourism.<\/p>\n

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat signed the administrative order which allows \u201cstaycations\u201d for persons of all ages, except those with underlying medical conditions, within areas under general community quarantine (GCQ).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to permit \u2018staycations\u2019 or a minimum of an overnight stay for leisure purposes in GCQ areas. This decision adds to the DOT\u2019s drive to slowly but safely resume tourism in the country and finally bring back jobs to our workers in the industry,\u201d Puyat said.<\/p>\n

Each staycation guest shall be required to present a negative result from a rapid antigen test conducted on the same day of check-in.<\/p>\n

The order provides that all accommodation establishments in areas declared to be under GCQ must secure a DOT Certificate of Authority to Operate for Staycations prior to accommodating any guests for a staycation.<\/p>\n

These establishments must follow guidelines on guest handling, including the maximum number of guests per room, as well as health and safety standards for ancillary establishments. They may also resume operations of ancillary facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, restaurants, and other food and beverage outlets, except for bars that remain prohibited in GCQ areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs safety remains the DOT\u2019s top priority, establishments that will offer staycation services will be strictly monitored. They will be required to keep a record of occupancy and submit it every 10th of the month to the relevant DOT regional office and local government unit (LGU) tourism office for data analysis purposes,\u201d Romulo-Puyat said.<\/p>\n

Accommodation establishments are required to \u201cdevelop staycation packages that are appropriate for the present market demands and conditions. The offerings must strictly adhere to the existing health and safety guidelines of the DOT and will likewise be monitored by the concerned regional office of the department,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

To promote minimal physical contact among staff and guests, contactless and cashless transactions for taking bookings and payments are also mandatory.<\/p>\n

As prescribed by the guidelines, establishments must adhere to other issuances on health and safety standards from the Department of Trade and Industry or Department of Health as well as rules and regulations imposed by the LGU concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolators shall suffer appropriate fines and fees, including revocation of DOT accreditation,\u201d Puyat warned.<\/p>\n

The tourism chief also issued a memorandum circular updating and harmonizing these guidelines with existing policies set by sector-relevant agencies and ensuring more adequate health and safety guidelines, especially for the operation of ancillary establishments within the accommodation establishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing beats restarting the tourism economy. We need to bring back jobs but with health and safety as a priority,\u201d Romulo-Puyat said.\u00a0(PR)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Tourism (DOT) has issued strict guidelines for \u201cstaycations\u201d as part of the government efforts to re-start …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":248783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270414,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270413\/revisions\/270414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}