China tourist booking cancellations extend until Jan. 2013

MANILA, Philippines – It may be worse than we thought. In the latest development seen as part of the continuing fallout from the maritime spat between Manila and Beijing over Scarborough Shoal, cancellations by Chinese tourists on trips to the Philippines have already reached until January 2013, according to a regional tourism official.

In a text message to InterAksyon.com, Atty. Helen Catalbas, officer-in-charge for Region 6 (Western Visayas) of the Department of Tourism said: “as of 4 p.m. (on May 14), 163 AAA and AA rooms have reported cancellations of Chinese bookings and one AAA resort have 230 cancelled room nights from July 2012-January 2013.”

She declined to estimate how large a dent these cancellations would have on the overall tourist arrivals in the island, but said her office was still monitoring the situation in Boracay, one of the country’s biggest tourism draws because of its vaunted lovely beaches. (Click InterAksyon.com for the rest. Originally published on May 16, 2012.)

China travel ban to Philippines imminent?

The Philippine tourism industry is bracing itself for an imminent travel ban by the Chinese government, as tensions over the disputed Scarborough Shoal continues to heighten.

This developed as Cebu Pacific said it had to suspend its twice-weekly charter service between Shanghai and Clark, "effective May 12" after a charter company in China cancelled its bookings.

By late afternoon Thursday, the Department of Tourism confirmed that some hotels have already reported booking cancellations from China.

Latest data from the DOT showed in the first quarter of 2012, Chinese tourists jumped by 77.53 percent to 96,455 from 54,332 in the same period last year. China is the Philippines' fourth largest market for tourists, accounting for 8.4 percent of market share from January to March 2012. (Originally published in InterAksyon.com, May 10, 2012.)