Just 100 Visa Places a Day Philippine Department of Tourism Slams Foreign Office for Attracting Chinese Tourists

The Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) recently slammed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), saying that its measures have prevented more Chinese tourists from visiting the Philippines.

In a letter to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo dated June 8, 2023, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Christina Vlasco (Christina Frasco) stated: "I would like to reiterate the urgent appeal of the Philippine Department of Tourism to request the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel the requirement that the Philippine Foreign Service in China issue only 100 visas per day."

The Minister of Tourism said: "While we understand from the initial response communicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Tourism on 30 March 2023 that in some cases the consulate issues between 200 and 250 visas per day, the official policy, which continues to be posted on the website, restricts the issuance of only 100 visas per day, which constitutes a deterrent to potential visa applicants, and it creates unnecessary obstacles in promoting the Philippines as a viable tourist destination for Chinese tourists."

She pointed out that as of June 5, 2023, only 90000 Chinese tourists had arrived in the Philippines, which caused the Philippines to "seriously lag behind" its ASEAN neighbors in terms of number of tourists.

The Philippine Ministry of Tourism cited ASEAN neighbors as examples, saying that Thailand has received 845,684 people (January-April), Vietnam has received 398,891 people (January-May), Singapore has received 215,290 people (January-April), Malaysia has received 178,150 people (January-March), Cambodia has received 132,665 people (January-March) and Indonesia has received 113,404 people (January-March).

From January to July 10, 2023, a total of 2.85 million international tourists arrived in the Philippines, of which about 2.6 million were foreign tourists and the remaining 250000 were overseas Filipinos visiting relatives and friends.

International travel during this period accounted for 69% of 4.13 million international travel in the first half of 2019 prior to the outbreak.

The same data shows that South Korea continues to be the first source market for international tourists with 703,933 people. This was followed by the United States (523,772), Australia (140,213), Japan (135,314) and Canada (126,266). The number of tourists from mainland China was only 118,673, followed by 97,869 from Taiwan, the United Kingdom (81,380), Singapore (78,224) and Malaysia (51,923).

Before the new crown outbreak, China was the second largest source of tourists to the Philippines.

In his letter to Manalo, Vlasco wants to know when the foreign ministry will finally implement an electronic visa system designed to attract more mainland and Indian tourists. She also reiterated that individual visa applications should be exempted from personal processing if their documents are processed through recognized travel agencies, and urged the establishment of an online payment system for visa applications.