The government is eyeing the use of rapid antigen testing for coronavirus disease for tourists who want to visit Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan and other tourist destinations in the country, Malacanang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, however, said this could only happen once the pilot test in Baguio City using this kind of testing becomes successful.

"Actually, during the last meeting of the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force of the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases), I also suggested to pilot also antigen in Boracay. But the decision was to complete first the pilot in Baguio, and once this becomes successful, this will be applied in other tourist destinations like Boracay," he said in a televised press briefing in Boracay.

The IATF has allowed tourists from areas under the general community quarantine to visit Boracay, provided that they follow the requirements, such as the 48-hour negative result of Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing for COVID-19.

But during the same press briefing, Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores said apparently the people are still afraid to travel as shown by the number of tourists that have visited Boracay during the past few days.

He noted that on October 1, there were only 35 tourists who arrived in the island; 47 on October 2; and 53 on October 3.

Henry Chusuey, one of the hotel operators in the island, requested that rapid antigen testing be also used in Boracay "to make it easier for the tourists to come."

He said that having RT-PCR tests create more hassle for the tourists.

"You know, tourism is not so essential now. The more you give a hassle to them, the more people will not come," Chusuey said.

According to the Department of Health, unlike RT-PCR, tests that can take up to three days to process results, antigen tests have only about 4-6 hours turnaround time for release of results.

Since RT-PCR tests are also more expensive, Miraflor said the tour operators and tourist establishments in Boracay also agreed to give as much as 75 percent discount on room rates.

"The expense for RT-PCR test will be offset of the discount we are giving in the hotels here," he said.

Roque urged people, particularly those in Metro Manila, to go on vacation after a long lockdown.

He said he will also inform President Rodrigo Duterte that he may want to visit Boracay as the residents there have been inviting him. Celerina Monte/DMS