ALL’S well that ends well.
Filipino groups traveling to China may now apply for a group visa to facilitate their entry into said destination.
In a letter dated December 28, 2018, China Tee International Travel Service Co. Ltd. informed its local partners and tour operators that the Beijing government has resumed the processing of group visa applications from Philippine tourists.
“After working hand in hand with the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines and the Chinese Government, and through the diligent efforts by the Philippine Travel Agency Association [PTAA], Philippine travel agents and airlines, we are delighted to announce that group visa issuance for Philippine passport holders has resumed starting 28 December 2018,” the Chinese travel firm said.
It also specifically thanked the Chinese Immigration Department “for their prompt response on the matter.”
Beijing had terminated the processing of group visas starting on December 25, ostensibly due to the sudden disappearance of five Filipino tourists on December 22 after arriving in Shanghai. Their trip to China was apparently arranged by an unlicensed travel agent there. (See, “China stops processing visas of PHL tour groups,” in the BusinessMirror, December 27, 2018.)
In a brief interview with the BusinessMirror, incumbent PTAA President Marlene Dado-Jante expressed satisfaction over the “quick resolution of the issue. We’re happy that group visa processing can now proceed.”
Official sources said that when the Philippines asked officials from the Chinese Embassy in Manila about their government’s move to stop the group visa processing, “they didn’t know about it and said they would check with Beijing.”
Subsequent follow-ups with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila also failed to yield any significant information on the matter.
China Tee said in its latest letter it “will do its best to make the necessary adjustments and proper arrangements” for group departures that had been affected by Beijing’s action from December 25 to 28. For those departing December 29 onward, China Tee advised its local clients to contact the travel agency directly for more clarifications.
The Chinese travel agency also enjoined its local partner travel agents “to please pay more attention on identity verification and background checks of clients.”
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Philippines ranked ninth among the top source countries for tourists of China, accounting for 2.7 percent of total visitor arrivals in 2017, or about 3.7 million.
In contrast, visitor arrivals from China grew by 43.3 percent to 968,447, making it the second top source market of tourists for the Philippines in 2017, next to South Korea.
China accounted for 14.63 percent of the total market share of arrivals in the Philippines that year. Many lawmakers suspect that most of the Chinese tourists arriving in the Philippines go to work in the online gaming industry, with several government agencies issuing different types of work visas to Chinese tourists. (See, “Government task force formed to check ‘Pogo’ workers,” in the BusinessMirror, November 26, 2018.)