Planned Davao sales mission to Beijing cancelled

DAVAO CITY MAY 16 (PIA) - The planned June sales mission to Beijing  spearheaded by the Department of Tourism Region XI  (DOT-XI)has been cancelled as tensions between the two countries over disputed areas in the West Philippines Sea spills over to tourism.

Eden Larano Chief Tourism Operations Officer of DOT-XI said that they had been advised by the tourism attaché in Beijing that the schedule of the sales mission is “too close for comfort.” The Davao Cultural Festival in the Chinese capital was supposed to be held from June 11 to June 30.

Though there has been no official memo yet from their Chinese tourism counterparts however Chinese travel agencies and tour operators had been advised to suspend promotions to the Philippines Larano however clarified that there is no travel ban issued by the government of China barring its citizens to visit the country.

The travel cancellations started in May 10 amidst concerns on the safety of Chinese citizens amidst protest actions against China, an offshoot of the standoff between the two countries at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, a reef 124 nautical miles west of Zambales.

According to figures from the Department of Tourism about 1,500 to 2,000 Chinese tourists have cancelled their flight to the country since May 10. Among those affected included bookings in Boracay, Bohol and Cebu.Larano said that they had hoped to equal or surpass the success of the previous sales mission to Beijing held in June last year.

The 2011 Davao Cultural Festival held in Marco Polo Beijing resulted in Davao being featured in Chinese broadcast media particularly the Chinese national television network CCTV, attracted interest among Chinese tour operators and travel agencies plus a chartered flight of Chinese executives on a company incentive visit.

China is the fourth largest market for Philippine tourism next to South Korea, the United States and Japan.  In Davao Region China ranks third in the East Asian market next to Japan and South Korea.An average Chinese tourist stays in the country for 3.5 days and spends about P4,000 per day. (PIA/RG Alama)