China denied that its has placed the Philippines in a tourism blacklist due to the continuing POGO operations in the country.
“The report of “tourist blacklist” is misinformation. China has not placed the Philippines on its blacklist for tourism,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement.
The Embassy adds that tourism is an important component of practical cooperation between China and the Philippines.
“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, close to two million Chinese nationals traveled to the Philippines in 2019, making China the second largest source of tourists. We expect more Chinese tourists to come to this country after the pandemic,” the Embassy said.
Senate President Migz Zubiri was the first one to claim that the Philippines has been blacklisted.
Read: China ‘blacklists’ PH as tourist site due to POGOs – Zubiri
“Maybe it was lost in translation and what the good Ambassador meant was we could be possibly blacklisted as he mentioned they do that to countries who promote gambling for their countrymen,” Zubiri said in a follow up statement.
“The word blacklist came from the good Amb and not from the Senators,” noting a strong possibility that the PH is either already in the list or could be added if POGOs continue to proliferate in the country,” he added.
