China justifies travel warning to Phl

CHENGDU, Sichuan – Even as the Philippine government refused to apologize for the kidnapping of a Chinese national in the country, reports showed there have been 10 Chinese tourists from the mainland who have either been killed, robbed or victimized by crime in the Philippines.

Sources from the foreign ministry revealed the crime-related cases involving Chinese nationals prompted the Chinese government to issue a travel warning.

“It’s a travel warning only, not a travel ban. It’s a result of the number of Chinese who either got robbed or kidnapped in the Philippines,” said an official, who refused to be named since he is not authorized to speak on the issue.

The travel warning is a notice for all nationals to take precautions while traveling to the Philippines, the official explained.

The cases involving at least 10 Chinese tourists have not been solved. “The killers cannot be found,” the official added.

The statistics do not include the Chinese nationals who were killed or hurt due to accidents, the official added.

The report came as budget airline Cebu Pacific and Tiger Airways Philippines cancelled 149 chartered flights to and from China starting this month upon request by China-based companies.

The cancellation would affect 24,138 passengers and forgo P284 million in potential revenues.

The Chinese embassy in Manila reported a total of 312,400 tourists who went to the Philippines from January to October in 2013. The total arrival from China reached 426,000 by December last year, mostly Chinese tourists who went to the island resort of Boracay for the Christmas holidays.

Statistics showed about 300,000 Chinese tourists arrived in the Philippines from January to September this year.