Boracay. FILE PHOTO
ILOILO CITY—Boracay Island’s tourism industry lost an estimated P500 million in revenues in just four days following the issuance by China of a travel advisory telling its citizens to avoid visiting the Philippines following the kidnapping of a Chinese national, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
“There have been massive cancellations and the estimated losses are staggering,” said Helen Catalbas, DOT Western Visayas director, in a phone interview with Inquirer.
Chinese tourists have canceled bookings for 3,884 rooms for 19,071 guests as of Sept. 16, based on reports of 36 hotels and resorts to the DOT. There are about 200 hotels and resorts in Boracay.
Foreign tourists in Boracay on the average spend two nights and three days on the island and $200 daily on accommodations, food, shopping, leisure activities and other expenses.
The cancellations from Sept. 13 to 16 translate to estimated losses of P492,031,800. These exclude losses of airlines and chartered flight operators, said Catalbas.
She said her office also received reports that bookings up to February next year were canceled.
“We are still waiting for reports of other resorts and hotels and we expect the figures to be higher,” she said.
Canceled til October
Three hotels under the Boracay Regency Group reported cancellations for 225 rooms covering four nights within the period of Sept. 12 to October, according to Isabel Garcia, assistant vice president for sales for Boracay operations.
She said the cancellations were of big tour groups in chartered flights.
“We are offering special rates for packages to cover the cancelations,” she said.
Dionesio Salme, president of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), a group of business owners on the island, said they are appealing to the government to help tap tourists from other countries to offset the impact of the cancelations.
The cancellations started a day after the Chinese government issued an advisory on Sept. 12 warning its citizens against travelling to the Philippines after an 18-year old Chinese national was kidnapped in Kabasalan town in Zamboanga Sibugay on Sept. 11.
The Chinese government also issued the advisory on the basis of reports that criminal groups planned to attack the Chinese embassy and Chinese companies.
Chinese tourists are the second top foreign market of Boracay next only to Koreans, according to Catalbas.
Making up
Last year 205,613 Chinese tourists visited Boracay which was second to the number of Koreans that visited the resort, 240,304.
As of of July this year, 132,052 Chinese tourists went to Boracay, still the second highest next to Koreans with 158,287.
Catalbas said the cancellations would have an impact not only on hotels and resorts but on airlines, tour operators and other tourism-related services and industries.
“There is not enough time to resell the rooms to other guests who usually book trips many months ahead. There are hotels in Boracay that have 100 empty rooms due to the cancellations,” she said.