Philippine Travel Takes a Hit

Philippines travel takes a hit after hostage situation

Tourists have been staying away from the Philippines, postponing or cancelling tours following a bloody hostage incident last week which left eight Hong Kong nationals dead. Tourist and business travel from Hong Kong and mainland China have dropped considerably since the incident.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) reported a jump in the number of cancellations of tickets since Hong Kong issued a black alert, the most severe travel ban it can issue.

The airline's Hong Kong branch said that 558 bookings bound for Manila have been cancelled on Tuesday alone. Passengers from Hong Kong, Xiamen, and Beijing made most of the cancellations, as angry sentiments in Hong Kong and China remained.

The office did not divulge information regarding exact losses but the manager acknowledged that the negative travel advisory have affected their business.

“We share the shock and grief of the people of Hong Kong. At the same time we are monitoring the situation and will decide on whether we should cut the number of flights,” said Dina Flores, PAL's country manager of Hong Kong, Macau, and Southwest China on Friday.

But Michael Wu, Hong Kong Travel Industry Council chief, says that the black alert has minimal impact to their overall operation.

“In all, 28 travel groups (540 tourists) that planned to visit the Philippines on or before September 9 had been suspended,” Wu said.

According to the Philippines' Department of Tourism, Chinese tourists comprise the third-largest group of tourists from East Asia. As of May 2010, 10.2 percent of the 1,188,791 tourists who visited the Philippines came from Hong Kong or mainland China.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Tuesday August 31 2010, 10:51 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0