Covid, not POGO scared Chinese tourist away — Solon
THE drop in tourist arrivals, particularly of Chinese visitors, is because of COVID-19 scare and not of Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs).
This was stressed by House Ways and Means Committee chairman and Albay Representative Joey Salceda during the consultation of the committee on labor and employment.
Salceda shared data showing that the decline in Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines was consistent with the drop in outbound Chinese tourists worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data showed that between 2019 and 2020 there was a drop of 90.2 percent in Chinese tourists bound for the Philippines, similar to the 88.4 percent decrease in Chinese tourists that traveled to different parts of the globe.
Between 2019 and 2022, the figures showed a 99.4 percent drop in Chinese tourists visiting the Philippines, coinciding with the 94.5 percent drop in Chinese tourists that traveled abroad in the same period.
These figures were also similar for Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates, two nations that also allow POGOs in their jurisdictions.
“Kitang-kita naman dito na wala naman diperensya kung may POGO ka o wala kang POGO. Talaga naman wala namang turista pinapalabas ang China dahil sa zero COVID policy nila,” he said.
“China has been actually implementing a no tourist policy,” lamented the Bicolano lawmaker said.
He stressed that it was “highly speculative” for the National Economic Development Authority to relate POGOs with Chinese tourists, and added that “the Chinese Ambassador was quick to clarify the statements that were attributed to some of our leaders.”
After Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri announced last week that China had placed the Philippines on a “blacklist” due to the presence of POGOs in the country. The Chinese Embassy immediately issued a statement that clarified that the Philippines was on no such blacklist.
Furthermore, the embassy statement emphasized that “before the Covid-19 pandemic close to two million Chinese nationals traveled to the Philippines in 2019, making China the second largest source of tourists. We expect more Chinese tourists to come to this country after the pandemic.”
