KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): China has placed the Philippines on a blacklist of overseas tourism destinations due to concerns over the safety of Chinese tourists.
In a report on Tuesday (Oct 11), gaming industry magazine Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) cited Senate President Migz Zubiri as telling a Senate hearing this week that the Philippines’ blacklist status had been outlined during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, with China’s authorities said to be particularly concerned with recent issues surrounding the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry.
“Because of the problem of POGO, the Philippines now is blacklisted and tourists are discouraged [from going] to the Philippines,” Zubiri said.
“The Philippines is now part of a blacklist of tourist sites because they do not know if [tourists] will be joining POGO operations and they do not know if the Chinese nationals who go to the Philippines will be safe from illegal activities being done by the triads, by the syndicates operating POGOs. They may also be kidnapped, mistaken as POGO operators.”
Zubiri said this was one of the reasons for a drop in Chinese tourists.
China first announced the existence of a blacklist of overseas tourist destinations in August 2020, with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism claiming at the time that such destinations were disrupting the nation’s outbound tourism market by opening casinos targeting mainland Chinese customers.
The blacklist, it explained, would see travel restrictions imposed on Chinese citizens going to overseas cities and scenic spots named.
IAG, however, reported the Philippines’ Presidential Palace said on Tuesday that it was currently unaware of any such blacklisting.