Boracay Losing P165M from China Travel Ban

Iloilo City (PNA) — The renowned tourist island of Boracay in Aklan is reportedly losing around P165 million from booking cancellations by more or less 7,000 Chinese nationals almost three days after China issued a travel ban advisory to the Philippines following the abduction of a Chinese teenager who worked in a family-run store in Zamboanga.

Atty. Helen Catalbas, regional director of Department of Tourism 6 (DOT-6) said more than 20,000 room night reservations from DOT’s accredited hotels and resorts which are booked from September 13 to March 2015 were cancelled.

“The given figure is partial because the data were taken only from our accredited hotels and resorts but we are still tracking down all the records of those hotels that are not accredited by the department to know exactly how many reservations were cancelled,” she said.

Catalbas said she is still expecting the increase of cancellations in the next few days as long as the banning will continue.

“We are just hoping to resolve the conflict in the international level very soon. In our level, we assured tourists that Western Visayas is secure, peaceful and nothing to fear,” she said.

Catalbas said Chinese nationals are the 2nd tourist target of WV next to Korean nationals.

In fact, there are already 110, 380 Chinese arrivals recorded in the region from January to July 9, 2014 while a total of 250,000 Chinese tourists were recorded last year.

She said comparing the record this year and last year, there is an increase in the arrival of Chinese tourists.

Meanwhile, Catalbas said Korean nationals are still the top tourist arrivals in Region 6 particularly in Boracay Island.

The DOT-6 recorded 130,851 Korean tourist arrivals in Western Visayas last year. (PNA) LAP/AJP/MGC/VLO