The Philippines government willing to offer Chinese tourists visa-free travel

To restore normal relations with China, Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, is willing to offer Chinese travelers visa-free entry. He will make this offer during his state visit to China during 18-21 October.

Included in the official delegation will be the former President Fidel Ramos. The Philippines government extends visa-free benefits to citizens of 50 countries, including the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states and the other island states all over the world.

A visa exemption allows visitors to the country in the Western Pacific to stay from a minimum of 14 days to up to 150 days. Exemption of visa is being offered only on a mutual basis by the Philippines. It implies that China should also extend similar visa-free benefits to Filipino tourists.

The Star, quoting the data from the China National Tourism Administration’s website, states that the Philippines was China’s 11th top source travel market in 2015 as arrivals from the Far East country touched over a million, an increase of 3.7 percent compared to 2014.

On the other hand, the top three destinations for tourists from China were Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In 2015, the Philippines received 490,841 tourists from China, which was 24.28 percent more than 394,951, the number of Chinese nationals who arrived in 2014. They accounted for the fourth largest number of tourist arrivals in the Philippines, with a market share of 9.16 percent.

From January until July 2016, 422,801 Chinese tourists arrived in this East Asian nation, making it to the third spot in the market share with 11.95 percent of all tourist arrivals.

Duterte was of the view that visa exemption would let the Philippines attract more Chinese tourists travelling abroad as the latter’s economy continues to grow dynamically.

If you are looking to travel to the Philippines, contact Y-Axis to get aid and assistance to file for a visa from one of our 19 offices, which are located in eight major cities of India.