DOT, DFA help stranded foreign tourists fly back home
The Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have joined together in gathering the remaining foreign tourists still stranded in various regions for special flights back to their countries.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. briefed over a hundred members of the diplomatic community through an online video conference regarding the repatriation of foreign nationals amid the enforcement of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and other travel restrictions in the provinces.
At the briefing, Locsin informed diplomats that, as the last of the sweeper flights mounted and funded by the Philippine government ended on Thursday, foreign governments are to take full responsibility in mounting sweeper flights from the provinces and back to their countries starting on Friday.
He informed the diplomats to advise their nationals to return to their home countries while there are still available flights, otherwise they will have to stay in the Philippines until the end of the ECQ period. He advised foreign missions on the steps they should take in the coming weeks to assist their nationals who are still in the Philippines.
As of Friday, the DOT said it had assisted 11,863 travelers nationwide but there remained in various regions 466 stranded tourists, with the bulk coming from Central Visayas with 700, Davao with 218, and Bicol with 177.
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