Philippine e-visa system ‘game changer’ for Chinese, Indian tourism markets — DOT chief
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism said that the upcoming implementation of the electronic visa (e-visa) for temporary visitors would “holds the promise of recovering the Chinese market and opening up to the Indian market.”
This week, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it will soft-launch the pilot implementation of the e-visa system for Chinese nationals in the Philippine foreign service posts on China on August 24.
The e-visa system, which aims to enhance convenience and accessibility for foreign nationals, allows international travelers who are visiting the country for tourism or business to apply for temporary visitors visas through their mobile devices and personal computers.
This system will also be implemented among Indian nationals by the end of this year.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco welcomed this implementation saying it would improve the experience of foreign visitors. She also said it can have a positive impact on revitalizing the Philippine industry.
“We are grateful that the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to implement the e-visa system will soon come into fruition with DFA’s implementation as it will surely improve the experience of inbound travelers and tourists, and have a positive impact on our international arrivals especially in the Chinese and Indian markets,” Frasco said.
“We believe that this will also foster even closer people-to-people exchanges, cultural understanding, and vibrant tourism cooperation,” Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said,” she added.
For Frasco, the e-visa would particularly boost Chinese tourist arrivals. She cited that before the COVID-19 pandemic, China is the second top tourist market of the Philippines.
In 2019, it has contributed 1.7 million visitors. As of July 26, the DOT recorded 137,822 arrivals from China, following the recent lifting of travel restrictions for the Chinese.
The DOT said “e-visa is also considered as one of the windows that could raise the confidence of airlines, charter operators, and travel agents to resume flights from various points in China directly to tourist destinations in the Philippines such as Boracay, Bohol, Cebu, Legaspi, Clark, Laoag, Lallo, and Manila due to the projected ease and increase in visa processing.”
“Certainly, the e-visa will be a game changer in the Chinese market, which currently prefers other Southeast Asian destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia which provide landing visa to Chinese travelers thus gaining faster momentum for the tourism recovery of these countries from the negative impacts of the pandemic,” Frasco said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. early this year ordered concerned government agencies to extend the e-visa to certain nationalities to encourage tourists from their countries to visit the Philippines.
In response to the directive, the DOT organized a visa reforms convergence meeting with the DFA, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) last March where they discussed how to help simplify the visa application procedures of the Philippines.
The DOT said the visa reform convergence meeting was also held not just to address the tourism bottleneck due to procedural hurdles but also to accelerate the tourism resurgence in the country.
“We are confident that the implementation of the e-visa system will encourage more Chinese and new Indian visitors to explore the wonders of our archipelago, creating unforgettable experiences and lasting memories that will certainly make them love the Philippines as a top-of-the-mind tourist destination,” Frasco said.
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