The Hague tribunal's award against China in the South China Sea case on Tuesday will likely reduce the number of Chinese visitors to the Philippines, but will not have an impact on tourism in Southeast Asia, experts said Wednesday.
Chinese tourists cited safety concerns and nationalist sentiment following the Hague's ruling as main factors for their decision not to visit the Philippines, which, experts said, is a sign of declining demand for bookings to the Southeast Asian country.
"It is a market demand instead of any administrative factor that will trigger changes to the Philippine tourism market," Jiang Yiyi, director of international tourism development at the Beijing-based China Tourism Academy, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
"I will not consider traveling to the Philippines anymore because of safety concerns," a man in Beijing, who gave his surname as Chen, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Chen, who is his 20s, said political tensions between China and the Philippines after the Hague's ruling is cause for safety concerns.
Beijing teacher Guo Yanting also said she will not visit the Philippines anytime soon to show her patriotism.
"Under the current tense situation, I will definitely not travel to the Philippines as a way to show my patriotism," Guo told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Chen and Guo are not alone; in fact, none of nearly 50 people the Global Times spoke to on Wednesday said he or she would visit the Philippines, citing similar reasons.
Declining popularity
That could add to the declining popularity of the Philippines among Chinese tourists in recent years, due to the tense relationship between China and the Philippines caused by the South China Sea disputes, said Ma Ding, director of overseas affairs at Beijing-based BTG International Travel & Tours.
"Tuesday's award will lead to the decline of the number of Chinese visitors to the Philippines," Ma told the Global Times Wednesday, noting that the travel agency's investment plans in the Philippines will depend on the actual situation.
The number of Chinese visitors to the Philippines stood under 300,000 in the first half of the year, including those going to the country for business and visits to relatives, Zhu Zhengyu, a tourism analyst at Beijing-based market consultancy Analysys International, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
China is the Philippines' third largest visitor source, with an annual growth rate of 8 percent, Zhu said, noting that the Philippine tourism market is not mature and quite small.
"Although the Philippines is experiencing 'cold' relations with China on the political level, it still wants to kept 'hot' economic and trade ties with the world's second largest economy," Zhu noted.
Room for growth
While less Chinese tourists might visit the Philippines, other countries in Southeast Asia are likely to see more, because of their advanced development, geographical proximity and favorable visa policies, experts said.
"I still would like to travel to countries like Thailand and Singapore thanks to the distance and favorable visa policies," Abby Lin of Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times Wednesday.
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are the major tourism markets in Southeast Asia and these three countries are not directly involved in the South China Sea ruling, noted Zhu.
More than 10 million Chinese tourists flooded Southeast Asian countries in 2015, with Thailand attracting about 8 million Chinese, according to experts.
In an effort to attract more Chinese visitors, Indonesia included China in its visa-free list in June 2015 and Malaysia offered visa-free entry and issued e-visas for Chinese visitors in March this year.
