The relaxation of the measures allows the use of a mask to not be mandatory in places such as airports, airplanes and tourist services
From the National Terminal of the New Pudahuel Airport, the Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Kunze, together with the Deputy Manager of Communications, Manuel Valencia, said goodbye to about 80 women from the Sernatur Family Tourism Program, who began their vacations and became the first group who traveled under the conditions of the new Sanitary Opening scenario.
The beneficiaries of the program, belonging to the communes of Cerro Navia and Pedro Aguirre Cerda, as well as the rest of the airport passengers, accessed the spaces of the air terminal and planes following the new regulations that make the use of a mask more flexible since the past 1 October.
The Undersecretary of Tourism reinforced that masks are no longer mandatory in closed spaces, including airports, bus terminals, restaurants, hotels and other tourist services. However, she stressed that “people who want or need to use it can do so. The Ministry of Health recommends those who have symptoms of respiratory diseases to use the mouth cover and also in the case of being in a place with a crowd of people.
The authority reiterated that “the Mobility Pass is not a requirement either and the random test at the entrance of the airport, carried out on Chilean residents who come from abroad, decreased to 5%, which, added to other changes, is an incentive for the reactivation of the sector, especially imports from the high season”.
The Deputy Manager of Communications of Nuevo Pudahuel, Manuel Valencia, stressed that "this type of program, which promotes domestic tourism, is in line with the work we are doing in Nuevo Pudahuel to recover the strength with which air transport had been growing until 2019, before the pandemic. The greater openness that allows the end of the mandatory use of a mask and the elimination of the mobility pass, make Chile recover its attractiveness as a tourist destination with greater force. At the end of this month, two major airlines will return to Santiago Airport, such as Qantas with its direct flight to Sydney and Level, with its route to Barcelona. These flights are signs of the reactivation that we have long awaited and that directly benefit passengers with more and more convenient travel options.”
In addition, during the activity, the Undersecretary of Tourism reported that, for this long weekend, considered from Friday, October 7 to Sunday, October 9 (two nights), 1,132,417 trips with overnight stays are projected throughout the country, that is, , 0.2% more than the same holiday in 2021.
“Family Tourism” Program
In order to bring tourism closer to the families of our country, since 2015 the National Tourism Service (Sernatur) has had the Family Tourism Program, which on this occasion allowed 40 women from Pedro Aguirre Cerda and 40 from Cerro Navia, travel to the Elqui Valley in the Coquimbo region and to Frutillar in the Los Lagos region.
This program allows the participation of all types of families that have at least two or more members, without exclusion in their composition, who with financial help can make trips to more than 30 destinations in the country.
The mayor of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Luis Astudillo, thanked the women of his commune for the opportunity and reiterated that "we are very happy for them, that they have the right to tourism, that they have the opportunity to get to know our country and because it is not easy to leave in these times. In addition, this is a program with a gender focus and in this case, they have given their lives for the growth of Pedro Aguirre Cerda and now they have the opportunity to relax."
Meanwhile, the mayor of Cerro Navia, Mauro Tamayo, highlighted the contribution of the Government and the municipalities to these programs, since “many neighbors have been excluded from knowing the country or even from approaching the Airport. Many of them are traveling for the first time and therefore, regardless of their purchasing power, it is important that these initiatives replicate, grow and benefit more and more people”
It should be noted that these programs seek and help promote domestic tourism, since they promote employment in the industry, the demand for tourist services and allow the local economies to be stimulated.