THE government is looking into the possibility of relaxing visa requirements for Chinese tourists to encourage them to visit the Philippines.
In a press briefing on Thursday, incoming Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said it would be better if both countries relax their visa requirements to bolster both tourism industries.
“The basic approach is to relax the visa restrictions to encourage tourism both ways on mutually beneficial terms,” Sta. Romana told the reporters during the China-Philippines Dialogue 2016 at Manila Peninsula in Makati.
He said relaxing visa requirements may result in China extending the same privilege to Filipino travelers to China. “We like to have the same access to travel as the Chinese,” he noted.
Based on data from the China National Tourism Administration, the Philippines ranked 11th in top source travel markets of China, with more than a million arrivals.
Last year, the number of Chinese that arrived in the Philippines was 490,841, or 24.28 percent higher than the 394,951 recorded arrivals in 2014. In the past seven months, 422,801 accumulated arrivals were recorded from China.
“There are more Philippine tourists now to China so we want first to balance that. The Chinese are talking about one-million tourist target,” he said, adding that visa relaxation depends on the outcome of the bilateral talks between China and the Philippines and its involved government agencies.
Under the Duterte administration, Sta. Romana said the Philippines will focus on enhancing further its economic cooperation with China, boost economic cooperation with China, despite ongoing territorial dispute over the West Philippine Sea.
“Dispute will not disappear overnight, there will be direct talks to peacefully resolve them, but disputes will not be an obstacle to development of bilateral ties,” Sta. Romana, who is still awaiting the confirmation of his appointment, said.
He also added that the Philippines, as part of its foreign policy in China, would want to focus on both countries’ economic, finance, culture, education and sports.