DAVAO City’s tourism sector is now preparing tour packages for the first group of foreign visitors since the start of the pandemic who are expected to arrive with the resumption of Singapore Airlines’ flights by Oct. 31.
The Singapore-Davao flights will be chartered under the carrier’s “northern winter” schedule from end-October to March 6, 2022.
Singapore Airlines, through its former subsidiary Silk Air, used to have regular weekly flights to Davao.
City Tourism Operations Officer Regina Rosa B. Tecson, in a statement on Tuesday, said tour operators and hotels will be offering “staycation packages” for the visitors, who will be required to undergo a quarantine period.
A negative RT-PCR test result taken within 72 hours before travel will also have to be presented.
Under Singapore’s current category as a moderate risk country, or within the yellow list, arriving passengers who are fully vaccinated will have to undergo a 10-day quarantine, and 14 days for the unvaccinated.
‘LITTLE TOKYO’
Meanwhile, a tourism masterplan is under review for a suburban village in the city that was home to a Japanese community in pre-World War II years.
City Planning and Development Office officer-in-charge Ivan Chin Cortez said the plan for Barangay Mintal, which used to be known as “Little Tokyo,” was submitted by consultancy and project management firm Berkman International, Inc. to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
The plan builds on existing tourism resources and takes into consideration community participation, environmental impact, and sustainability for developing Mintal as a cultural and historical destination. — Maya M. Padillo