PH lands in China's tourism blacklist over POGOs—Zubiri
China has blacklisted the Philippines as a tourist site due to the continued operations of offshore gaming operators or POGOs in the country, Senate President Miguel Zubiri said on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
During a Senate inquiry, the senator cited Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian who said the move was due to safety concerns surrounding POGOs.
"The Philippines now is part of a blacklist of tourist sites because they do not know if the tourist will be joining POGO operations and they do not know if the Chinese nationals who go to the Philippines will be safe from illegal activities done by the triad, by the syndicates operating POGO. They may also be kidnapped, mistaken as POGO operators," Zubiri said.
The Chinese embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs have yet to release a statement about the blacklisting.
China is one of the top sources of tourism arrivals in the Philippines with 1,743,309 residents visiting the Philippines in 2019, according to reports from the Department of Tourism. As the Senate President noted, this number has dropped in 2021 to 9,674.
In September, the Philippines cracked down on gambling firms, shutting down 175 operators and deporting 40,000 Chinese workers. China's embassy expressed support for the deportation and crackdown, noting that it "firmly opposes and takes tough measures to combat gambling."