Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CONTRIBUTED/MCIA website)
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia welcomed the plans of the Lapu-Lapu City Government to reopen Mactan airport for international flights ferrying foreign tourists.
“I will join Mayor Ahong (Chan) in that aspect as long as we will be able to lay down proper guidelines to govern the entry of tourists here,” said Garcia in a press conference on Wednesday, December 16.
The city government of Lapu-Lapu has been eyeing to reopen the country’s second-busiest gateway, the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), for foreign tourists to revive the already beat-up tourism industry.
Chan, for his part, expressed intentions to meet with Garcia to discuss its implementation and corresponding guidelines. Garcia, in her capacity as the governor, sits as a member of the board of directors for the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), the body co-managing and co-operating the airport.
The governor, in the meantime, has also been vocal on her plans to revive the tourism industry by reopening the province’s borders for tourists from neighboring provinces in Central Visayas.
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Garcia is set to meet with the Provincial Tourism Task Force soon for its realization.
“Cebu province has already broken new ground when it was one of the provinces in the country that have reopened its tourism industry as early as July,” she added.
Cebu province has been placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the most relaxed form of community quarantine, since July and wherein tourism enterprises are allowed to resume. /rcg