China Suspends Tours
Tightens Inspection Of Philippine Fruit Imports
By ROY C. MABASA
May 10, 2012, 6:44pm
MANILA, Philippines - Several travel agencies in China have suspended tour packages to the Philippines after the Chinese government warned its nationals to stay off Philippines streets ahead of a protest rally in front of its embassy in Makati City today.
Chinese authorities are also increasing inspections on fruit imports from the Philippines in an apparent bid to use economic pressure to end a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
China International Travel Service, one of Beijing's largest, reportedly suspended trips to the Philippines on Thursday. A similar suspension was ordered by the nationwide online agency Ctrip.com and the Shanghai Tourism Bureau.
The agencies all cited current "anti-China sentiments" in the Philippines.
"We have taken note that there are indeed cancelations from China and the number is quite alarming because China is a very important market for the Philippines," said lawyer. Maria Victoria Jasmin, Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation. "As of yesterday, 10 tour groups consisting of 25 to 75 tourists have already canceled as well as over a hundred chartered flights
from Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou."
According to Jasmin, China ranks 4th in the country's top tourist market and had an 8.4 percent share in the total visitor arrivals for the January to March, 2012 period or over 96,455 tourists. Last year, total tourist arrivals from China reached 243, 137 contributing 6.21 percent market share.
Chinese tourists make up about 9 percent of total arrivals to the Philippines.
Earlier, the Chinese Embassy in Manila advised Chinese citizens in the country to stay off the streets and avoid conflict with locals.
Loida Nicolas-Lewis, a well-known New York-based Filipino-American industrialist, said similar anti-Chinese demonstrations will take place in major cities throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Asia.
Nicolas-Lewis, who spearheaded the mobilization of Filipinos to show China and the rest of the world that they will not allow their rights to Scarborough to be trampled, said notable personalities like theater actress Lea Salonga and former Akbayan Rep. Rissa Hontiveros will join the demonstration. About 1,000 protesters are expected to join the rally in Makati.
In another indication that Beijing is applying the economic squeeze on the Philippines, China's food safety watchdog has ordered stiffer inspections of banana, pineapples, and other fruit imported from the Philippines.
The Philippines is among China's major suppliers of bananas.
Available statistics show that the Philippines exports an estimated 70 million boxes of bananas a year to China.
Around 20,000 hectares of land in the Philippines are devoted to growing bananas.
The banana industry is the country's fifth largest export industry.
China and the Philippines are among six claimants to waters and island groups in the South China Sea, which boasts some of the world's most heavily traveled maritime lanes, rich fishing grounds, and a potential wealth of mineral resources.
The latest standoff between Beijing and Manila began April 10 when the Philippine navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally around Scarborough.
Last Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying reiterated its call for Philippine officials to calm down and refrain from taking actions which could worsen the situation in the disputed shoal.
Fu Ying said in a statement it is obvious that the Philippine side has not realized that "it is making serious mistakes and instead is stepping up efforts to escalate tensions."
He said that the Philippines continues to send government vessels to the lagoon of the Huangyan Island (the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal), and repeatedly made "erroneous remarks which mislead the public in the Philippines and the international community, played up the public feelings, thus severely damaging the atmosphere of the bilateral relations between China and the Philippines. Therefore it is hard for us to be optimistic about the situation."
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) yesterday downplayed the increasing inspections by China on Philippine fruit exports as a purely quarantine issue that both parties are trying to settle.
Trade and Industry Undersecretary for trade and investments promotion Cristino L. Panlilio tried to sound upbeat."It is more than business as usual, we are ramping up business with China," Panlilio said.
"We will continue to promote and entertain visits from the China and set the shoal issue on the side," he said.
China, including Hong Kong, already account for 24 percent of the country's $8.55-billion exports in the first January-February period this year. The US accounts for 16 percent and Japan, 16 percent.
The DTI considers China as an economic partner and has trade offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhuo and Hong Kong.
The Investments Promotions Group of the Board of Investments has scheduled four missions to China this year.
DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said he is working with Chinese authorities "to resolve the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issue" involving Philippine fruit exports.
Last year, the Philippines exported a total of $366.68 million of bananas to China, supplying 91.36 percent of its total banana requirements.
The issue stemmed from China's rejection of 43 batches of Philippine banana exports over pest infestation issue.
On China's move to suspend trips of its nationals to the Philippines, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) said it is still hoping "the prevailing tension at the Scarborough Sholes will be resolved at the soonest possible time by our respective governments."
According to the PTAA, Chinese tourist arrivals to the country have grown by double digits.
"But to put things in perspective, China is only one of the Philippines' many target markets. Our top three markets remain Korea, United States of America, and Japan," it said in a statement.
It is also sees increased interests from countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
"We believe they can augment whatever it is the Philippines will lose from Chinese tourists arrivals," the PTAA said. (Additional reporting by Bernie Cahiles Magkilat, Jacy Lynne A. Oiga, Reuters, and AP)
China Suspends Tours | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online
