Tourism laggard
Flying back to Manila from Harbin, China’s “Ice City” via Shanghai Pudong over the weekend, I noticed only one passenger who I initially thought might be a Chinese national. But she must have been a Tsinoy; she spoke Mandarin and fluent Filipino.
The flight was not full, and many of the passengers were Russians (I saw the passports), perhaps in their 20s and 30s. Maybe they were drawn to the Philippines by the Women’s Open match between tennis ace Alex Eala and Russia’s Alina Charaeva. Or maybe they picked the Philippines for leisure travel. I heard the word “Boracay” spoken by some members of the large group. I hoped their stay in our country would be filled with fond memories of leisurely moments.
Chinese nationals used to account for the second largest international arrivals in the Philippines, after the South Koreans. A tour operator who caters to the Chinese market, both inbound and outbound, told me that arrivals have plummeted by over 80 percent in recent years.
The numbers don’t necessarily reflect tourist arrivals. Philippine offshore gaming operations brought a lot of Chinese visitors, the tour operator said. But they came here to work in POGOs, although of course some ofthem also became tourists. Many entered on tourist visas, through one of the corruption schemes involving the Bureau of Immigration.
Arrivals from China began going down as travel resumed post-COVID in 2022, and plunged when POGOs were banned. The tour operator said Chinese wanting to visit Southeast Asia skip the Philippines and instead pick Vietnam and Thailand. But so do Filipinos with money to spend for leisure travel. Many Pinoys would rather go to those countries than visit popular local destinations, according to the tour operator.
This month, the government began offering a non-extendible 14-day visa-free stay to Chinese visitors. The tour operator hopes those who respond to the come-on won’t be disappointed.
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While tensions in the West Philippine Sea naturally contribute to the fall in Chinese arrivals, the tour operator points out that there are many other factors that make foreigners skip the Philippines when traveling to Southeast Asia.
One is the cost. The tour operator isn’t the only player in our tourism industry who has pointed out that it’s cheaper for a Manila resident to visit Phuket in Thailand or Hanoi and Danang in Vietnam than to visit top destinations in the Philippines.
Comparable accommodations as well as airfares are cheaper in neighboring countries, the tour operator told me—echoing what local tourism industry players also bemoaned when I attended a tourism convention in Cebu last year.
Airfares come down cheaper because Thailand, for example, has direct flights to several of its top travel destinations. Plus its international airports serve airlines with direct flights to many tourism markets all yearround.
In contrast, the only airline with a direct flight between the Philippines and Europe, Air France, announced last month that it would be suspending its non-stop Paris-Manila service from May 4 to Oct. 12 this year. I took that non-stop flight in June last year when I went to Toulouse, and it’s a shame that the service has been reduced to a seasonal operation.
Without direct flights to our tourist spots, it means foreign visitors must go through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to take a connecting flight to their final destination. This adds to the travel costs (especially if there’s price gouging for airfares to destinations such as Siargao). Equally important, it eats up time allotted for a vacation by travelers.
Arriving at the NAIA 1 from Shanghai at 1 a.m., for example, several passengers had to wait five hours for their connecting flight to their final destination, Cagayan capital Tuguegarao. The flight itself is just a hop of 45 minutes.
NAIA is no Changi International; being stuck at the NAIA for five hours can be torture. Foreign travelers will want to avoid that kind of aggravation.
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While the NAIA has improved a bit under new management (although it was still chaotic when I arrived from South Korea last November), the airport is no Seoul Incheon International or Shanghai Pudong. Considering the space constraints, there is only so much that the NAIA operator can do.
Another problem: there’s no shuttle for transiting domestic passengers at the three NAIA terminals. The passengers going to Tuguegarao needed to transfer to NAIA-3 from NAIA-1, and had to book a Grab for it. And you book a Grab or take a cab from the NAIA with a prayer to be spared from price gouging by drivers who don’t understand the impact on their livelihoods of such inhospitality.
Then there are the prices of souvenirs. Philippine souvenirs are similar to those in much of Southeast Asia—in Thailand, Indonesia’s Bali, in Vietnam. But items of comparable quality and design are cheaper in those other countries.
The tour operator told me that she buys souvenirs in Vietnam for giveaways to clients, passing them off as Philippine-made, because the prices in Vietnam are way cheaper. Food is also cheaper without sacrificing taste.
Little wonder then that Vietnam drew an eye-watering 21.2 million international visitors in 2025—up 20.4 percent from the previous year.
In contrast, we had only 4.7 million foreign visitors last year. Including overseas Filipinos returning for a visit, the total for international arrivals is 5.6 million—but this is still a slip from the 5.9 million in 2024.
I’ve already written about one of the biggest factors that has spooked prospective visitors from South Korea, our long-time top source of foreign arrivals: peace and order. Personal security is of utmost importance to any traveler.
On top of spotty internet service in many areas, certain popular destinations also suffer from serious power and water supply interruptions. Emergency medical facilities are inaccessible.
We are struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels of international arrivals. Considering all the hurdles, I'm not holding my breath.
