South Korea has updated its travel guidance to allow quarantine-free entrance for travelers whose vaccine status has been registered in the country from March 21st.
The program will be expanded to travelers who were vaccinated abroad from April 1st. A person is considered vaccinated if they got their second shot within 180 days, or if they have had all three doses.
Visitors will need to take three PCR tests and will need to register the status of that first test, their vaccination certificate and quarantine exemption certificate before entry.
Border reopening will be welcome for both South Korea’s foreigner-only casinos, but also many jurisdictions around Asia which are counting on Korean tourists to help fill the void left by the Chinese, due to Beijing’s strict zero-Covid policy.
The Philippines in particular is a strong travel destination for South Koreans. The two governments were in talks in November about the possibility of opening a travel corridor, although the talks were derailed by the spread of Omicron. The Philippines has also now reopened to international travel.
