TOURISM authorities were able to assist 762 stranded foreign tourists and workers back to their respective hometowns as of Tuesday, April 23.
City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Generose Tecson said the foreigners were coming from different regions in Mindanao.
She said the foreign embassies have been arranging flights with various airlines to send their people back home as the country had imposed suspension of air travel while under the enhanced community quarantine.
The Philippine embassies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States are said to have arranged sweeper flights with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to ferry their people back to their respective countries.
The United Kingdom embassy has also coordinated a special flight to help their people return but is scheduled on April 28.
Tecson said they are currently assisting stranded domestic tourists such as those going home to Pampanga and Manila and are expecting the coming of British nationals next week.
She also advised other stranded foreigner and domestic tourists to coordinate with the Department of Tourism (DOT) offices near them, especially those who are supposed to board the sweeper flights at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
“Because of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), we have to follow protocol for them to enter the city. The DOT in Davao Region will provide vehicles because they can only be transported up to the borders of Davao Region. Then, they are transferred to the vehicles of the DOT Davao Region to bring them straight to the airport,” she explained.
She said there are four borders identified in Davao Region which are located in Malalag and Bansalan in Davao del Sur, Bukidnon-Davao (Buda) border, and Monkayo in Davao de Oro.
“There were instances that other foreign nationals did not coordinate with their DOT and they brought their vehicles. They wanted to cross Buda but we did not allow them,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Australian embassy announced Tuesday, April 21 that PAL will not be able to mount all the sweeper flights for those scheduled to return to their country on Friday, April 24.
On Wednesday, the embassy said PAL will run sweeper flights on April 28 to connect people in Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Tacloban and Bohol for those people who have previously registered.
However, they have ceased accepting registration due to high numbers of applicants.