BI expects 110,000 travelers during the holiday season

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner, Atty. Joel Anthony Viado stated that around 110,000 travelers are expected during the Christmas season.

According to the BI, last year's Christmas weekend, the Bureau recorded an average of more than 53,000 arrivals and 43,000 departures.

"We think that the number of travelers will now surpass pre-pandemic numbers, and we anticipate that they will continue to rise this year," the BI chief said. 

Before the pandemic, the BI reported an average of 55,000 arrivals per day in December. Additionally, in December 2019, they recorded an average of 47,000 departures.

Atty. Viado assured travelers that necessary arrangements have been made to ensure smooth operations during the holiday rush.

In order to guarantee full deployment capacity during the busiest time of year, frontline officers' leave requests are often rejected.

"With more staff, we have increased our operations at major international airports to ensure seamless passenger flow. Our team is also closely monitoring our operations," Atty. Viado disclosed.

Apart from the newly hired officers, the BI is deploying additional personnel from its main office to support airport operations. According to BI, in order to guarantee effective processing at the busiest time of year, they are also deploying mobile counters and engaging their rapid reaction teams.