Like its South-East Asian neighbours, the Philippines has long relied on China to bolster its tourism industry. - China Daily
MANILA: Three main Philippine airlines have reduced direct flights between the country and China and are planning further cutbacks by year end amid sluggish demand from Chinese tourists, driven by heightened geopolitical tensions between the two countries and the ban on mostly Chinese-run online casinos.
AirAsia Philippines, the local unit of Malaysia’s AirAsia owner Capital A, has suspended all its flights from Manila to China.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, AirAsia Philippines flew from Manila to seven Chinese cities in 2019. In 2023, the carrier had flights to four cities in China, two by mid-2024, and none by end-August.
AirAsia Philippines’ Head of Communications and Public Affairs Steve Dailisan said the temporary suspension was “to optimise the fleet and prioritise other routes with stronger load factors”.
Passengers from Manila can still travel to China through other AirAsia hubs in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia, he noted.
“China is an important route for AirAsia Philippines and we look forward to serving it again,” said Dailisan.
In the meantime, local budget carrier Cebu Pacific has shelved plans to resume its Manila-Beijing flights this year. That route was suspended in 2020 due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.
In addition, Cebu Pacific’s President and CEO Alexander Lao told reporters on Oct 3 that the carrier would reduce its number of flights from Manila to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen by the end of 2024 due to low demand.
By then, “we will be down from maybe anywhere between five to seven flights a week, to just two destinations. And it’s probably because of softening demand in China,” said Lao.
Chinese travellers are more focused on domestic tourism for now due to China’s slowing economy and Cebu Pacific needs to adjust its plans accordingly, he added.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines has reduced its flight frequencies from Manila to China, according to global flight statistics provider OAG Aviation.
Mayur Patel, OAG Aviation’s regional sales director, told ST that the airline has retained “only a few routes, including Shanghai, Xiamen and Quanzhou”
While the carriers only cited weak travel demand as the reason for slashing their direct Philippine-China routes, Mr Patel said geopolitical tensions between the two countries have primarily influenced the changes.
“Geopolitical tensions between the two countries have led to stricter visa requirements (for Chinese nationals), and this has led to changes in flight capacity,” Patel said.
His view was echoed by the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT), which told ST in a written statement Oct 3 that the local carriers had to reassess their Philippine-China routes due to the “overall weakening demand of international travel from China that has been exacerbated by the slowdown of its economy and the persisting geopolitical tensions between the two countries”.
Like its South-East Asian neighbours, the Philippines has long relied on China to bolster its tourism industry.
Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic that led to strict travel restrictions worldwide, more than 1.7 million Chinese tourists visited the Philippines in 2019. Tourist arrivals from China numbered 263,000 in 2023, and amounted to 130,574 as of late April this year.
Tensions between Manila and Beijing over the disputed South China Sea have been rising since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr adopted a more assertive position in the maritime dispute when he took office in 2022.
In recent months, Beijing has been blocking and firing water cannons at Philippine ships sending supplies to troops stationed on an ageing warship grounded at Second Thomas Shoal, which serves as Manila’s remote military outpost.
Chinese and Filipino coast guard forces have also clashed in Sabina Shoal, where Manila had anchored one of its coast guard ships in a bid to stop what it suspects are Beijing’s efforts to build an artificial island there. China has denied this.
Manila has since withdrawn its ship from the hotly contested shoal.
Apart from heightened geopolitical tensions, the DOT also attributed the sluggish flow of Chinese visitors to the Philippines to stricter visa restrictions imposed in June.
Chinese nationals applying for a tourist visa allowing a 59-day stay in the Philippines are now required to submit their Chinese Social Insurance Record Certificates as well, in a bid to better verify the traveller’s identity and reduce fraudulent activities in the country.
This comes on the heels of official investigations into former Philippine town mayor Alice Guo, who is accused of being a Chinese spy with links to a Chinese crime syndicate operating a scam hub fronting as an online casino, or Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo).
The Pogos, which cater to overseas gamblers, including Chinese nationals, and have been linked to criminal activities.
In July, Marcos ordered a total ban of Pogos by the end of 2024.
The tougher visa requirements plus Filipinos’ growing anti-Chinese sentiment fueled by the ongoing investigations into Guo may have turned off Chinese tourists from visiting the Philippines, said political analyst Lucio Pitlo III, president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies.
“Our neighbors have already visa-free arrangements for the Chinese. That puts our Philippine tourism at a disadvantage compared to our peers in South-East Asia,” said Pitlo.
Other South-East Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia have been offering visa-free entry to Chinese nationals.
Chinese-Filipino civic leader Teresita Ang See sees the cutbacks in direct air links between the Philippines and China as “collateral damage in deteriorating relations” between Manila and Beijing. She heads the non-governmental organisation Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, which advocates for the integration of the Chinese-Filipino community in Philippine society.
“Not just tourists are affected. Students are afraid to come. Business ventures are put in the backburner. It will make us less competitive and lose out on opportunities,” Ang See told ST.
The DOT admitted in its statement that the decline in Chinese visitors has been a “challenge” for the country’s tourism sector.
In terms of international visitor arrivals to the Philippines, for the first two months of 2024, South Korea tops the list with 349,956 or 28.5 per cent of total arrivals, followed by the United States with 195,603 or 15.9 per cent and China with 85,876 or 7 per cent.
The Philippine government is now focused on strengthening its travel promotions in other markets like South Korea, US, Japan, India, Europe and the Middle East.
Despite the geopolitical tensions, the Marcos government continues to foster economic relations with China, which remains the Philippines’ top trading partner with total trade between the two nations reaching US$41 billion (S$53 billion) in 2023.
As such, Pitlo hopes the Philippine government will reconsider relaxing its visa policy on Chinese nationals to improve relations in the coming months, as tourism is a mainstay of the economy.
“We might be able to entice more (China) tourists to come to our country again,” he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
