Losing the Chinese market, which is the country’s second top source of travelers pre-pandemic, could slow down the country’s tourism recovery, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) said Tuesday, Oct. 11.
The statement came following a report that China has included the Philippines in its blacklist of tourist sites amid the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators’ (POGO) continuing operations in the country.
“China was our second largest market prior to the pandemic and if that will be a market we will lose coming out of the pandemic, we may have a longer path to recovering our previous tourism figures,” TCP President Jojo Clemente III said in a text message.
Clemente believes it is time for the government to “reassess” the presence of POGOs in the Philippines, stating that tourism could “more than make up” for the possible revenue loss.
“We will definitely touch bases with the DOT (Department of Tourism) on how this situation can be resolved as soon as possible to head off any adverse effects on the tourism industry,” he added.
Prior to the pandemic, tourism contribution to the country’s economy reached over 12 percent. Foreign and domestic tourism expenditure in 2019 hit around around PHP548.76 billion and PHP2.4 trillion, respectively, which sustained 5.71 tourism jobs.
Based on the Department of Tourism (DOT) data, at least 1,743,309 Chinese nationals visited the country in the same year.
Following a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, Senate President Miguel Zubiri revealed that the “Philippines now is part of a blacklist of tourist sites because they (China) do not know if the tourist will be joining POGO operations and they do not know if the Chinese nationals who go to the Philippines will be safe from illegal activities being done by the triad, by the syndicates operating POGO.”
The DOT and the Department of Foreign Affairs have yet to issue a statement when asked whether they received official communication from the Chinese government.
As of this writing, the Chinese Embassy in Manila has also yet to confirm if the Philippines is included in any blacklist, only saying that “tourism is an important component of practical cooperation” and that it expects “more Chinese tourists to come to this country after the pandemic.”PNA
