BACOLOD City – Nine more European tourist stranded in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental have been ferried by charter planes to catch their repatriation flights in Manila and Cebu.
The Sipalay City Tourism Development and Promotion Office said that its personnel, in coordination with the Negros Occidental Provincial Tourism Division, assisted the tourists during the Holy week.
On April 11, two Swedish nationals took the Bacolod-Iloilo-Manila sweeper flight from Bacolod-Silay Airport arranged by the Embassy of Sweden, while seven Germans flew on three Cessna planes from Sipalay Airport to Mactan-Cebu International Airport to board their Cebu-Frankfurt flight on April 8.
“Although the Department of Tourism has issued an advisory that the agency is no longer initiating flights for stranded tourists, there are still airlines with commercial flights or groups doing private charters to move stranded tourists to international gateways,” the Provincial Tourism Division, headed by Jennylind Cordero, said in an earlier statement.
Travel restrictions brought by the enhanced community quarantine imposed in Luzon and some provinces in Visayas due to the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak left the tourists stranded in various destinations of this province.
Majority of those tourists stranded were staying in Sipalay – tourism hub in southern Negros Occidental known for its white-sand beaches and unique diving sites.
The Sipalay City Tourism Development and Promotion Office have been assisting tourists in leaving the city since last month.
On March 28, a Cessna special repatriation flight arranged by the Swiss Embassy flew a Swiss, two Germans and a Bosnian from Sipalay Airport to Cebu.
A batch of 21 tourists – 14 Germans, three French, three Swiss, and one British – were also assisted in their travel from Sipalay to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental going to Cebu on March 25.
On the first week of April, the Provincial Tourism Division reported that more than 100 foreign tourists have been stranded in various towns and cities in this province.(With a report from PNA/PN)
