A NUMBER of Chinese nationals have expressed disappointment over the six-month closure of Boracay Island, diplomatic sources said.
“Before the closure, they kept calling us about the move and asked if they should cancel their trips. They were complaining about it. Many of them were scheduled to come in May and June,” said the source from the Chinese Embassy in Manila, who requested anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
He added that many of these Chinese nationals said they were no longer able to “recover” their payments made for their hotels and airline tickets.
Since the closure was announced, “they have not informed us if they would just go to another destination or forego the Philippines entirely,” he said. “Maybe they are not yet informed of the other options in the Philippines like Palawan, Bohol, Coron,” the source said.
President Duterte has approved the closure of Boracay Island from April 26 to October 26, 2018, ostensibly to make way for its rehabilitation. His critics say otherwise, after the government’s main gaming agency announced it gave a provisional license to a Macau gaming giant and its local partner to operate a casino on the popular resort island.
The Chinese market accounted for 375,284, or some 19 percent, of the 2 million visitor arrivals, including local tourists, in Boracay. In the first two months of 2018, visitor arrivals in Boracay grew by 9 percent to 375,993, according to data from the Malay Municipal Tourism Office. Of that figure, 262,488 were foreigners, with Chinese tourists topping the list of overseas markets at 120,973. The market accounted for about 32 percent of total visitor arrivals for the two-month period.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) has targeted about 2 million visitor arrivals from China this year, owing to the thawing of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Manila. Last year close to 1 million Chinese nationals visited the Philippines, dislodging the United States as the second top source of tourists.
Chinese tourists were also the second-largest market in Central Visayas last year, according to the DOT in a news statement. With 429,306 arrivals, Chinese nationals accounted for some 14.9 percent of the 2.9 million foreign tourist arrivals in Central Visayas in 2017.
Overall, the DOT said domestic travelers, at 4 million, still accounted for the largest chunk of the 6.9 million total tourist arrivals in the region. The cumulative number of tourists was up 17.1 percent from 2016. Central Visayas is composed of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
Topping the foreign visitor arrivals were tourists from South Korea at 895,776; China; Japan 408,566; United States 219,796; Taiwan 71,739; Australia 71,724; Germany 58,432; France 50,257; the United Kingdom 49,484; and Canada 43,084.
Cebu City continued to attract the largest number of foreign tourists, said the DOT, which could be due to the “increase in direct international commercial and chartered flights to Cebu from other countries.”
Lapu-Lapu City, Panglao, Dumaguete City and Tagbilaran City also recorded a respectable number of tourist arrivals, though the DOT failed to release relevant data for these cities.
The DOT added Cebu and Bohol have become choice venues for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), and were locations of last year’s meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The DOT and its marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board, together with the local government units (LGUs), “have implemented a massive promotions campaign for the region, which has resulted in a strong social-media presence, and has given stakeholders a platform for promoting their own products.”
The implementation of the Tourism Road Infrastructure Projects, a convergence program between the DOT and the Department of Public Works and Highways since 2015, has since provided greater access to tourist sites in the region, said the tourism agency.
Further strengthening of the region’s tourism industry was fomented as the DOT conducted trainings and workshops for LGUs and private stakeholders, to encourage them to diversify their tourism product offerings.