Salceda

‘No tourist’ policy reason for drop in Chinese tourist arrivals

October 19, 2022 Ryan Ponce Pacpaco 275 views

IT is China’s no-tourist policy, and not the Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs), that explains the drop in Chinese tourist arrivals in the country.

This was stressed on Wednesday by House committee on ways and means chairman and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who, at the consultation of the labor and employment panel in Congress, shared data that showed that the decline in Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines was consistent with the drop in outbound Chinese tourists worldwide due to the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The data showed that between 2019 and 2020, there was a drop of 90.2% in Chinese tourists bound for the Philippines, similar to the 88.4% decrease in Chinese tourists that traveled to different parts of the globe.

Between 2019 and 2022, the figures showed a 99.4% drop in Chinese tourists visiting the Philippines, coinciding with the 94.5% 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,” Salceda pointed out. “Talaga naman wala namang turista pinapalabas ang China dahil sa zero COVID policy nila.”

“China has been actually implementing a no tourist policy,” lamented the Bicolano lawmaker, who explained that it was “highly speculative” for the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) 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.”

“At mismo si Chinese ambassador nagsabi na walang relasyon ang dalawa,” Salceda said.

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, Salceda said 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.”

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