As from Thursday (August 1), the Philippines began implementing visa-free entry privilege to nationals from 151 countries to attract more foreign tourists.

According to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), qualified foreign nationals who intend to avail of the visa-free privilege from 21 days to 30 days only need to present a national passport valid for at least six months beyond the contemplated stay and an onward ticket. "This move will hopefully encourage more tourists and investors to visit and stay in the Philippines by removing the need for them to report to immigration offices for a stay of up to a month. It will also give them more flexibility in planning and managing their schedules," the DFA said.

However, the list of the countries eligible for the visa-free privilege excluded China and its Taiwan region.

Statistics released by Philippine Department of Tourism showed that China was the fourth largest source of visitors to the Philippines in 2012, with tourist arrivals totaling 250,883, or 5. 87 percent of the market share. Taiwan was the fifth largest market with 216,511 visitors coming to the Philippines last year.

The Philippines failed to attain its target of 4.6 million visitors in 2012, despite the record high annual tourist arrivals of 4.27 million.

One of the main reasons was due to the number of tourists from China far below the government-set target of 450,000 for that year.

Since the Philippine Coast Guard shot dead a Taiwanese fisherman when they fired at the vessel the fisherman was on board, and refuse to make an apology for the event afterwards, Taiwan issued a red alert for tourism to discourage Taiwanese from traveling to the Philippines.

As a result, tourist arrivals from Taiwan dropped by 44 percent to 10,643 in May, compared with the same month of last year.

For the January to May period, the number of Taiwanese tourists to the Philippines fell 15.51 percent to 79,297 from 93,855 in the same period in 2012.

The newly-implemented measure seems to ignore these two large markets.

Data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) showed Philippines' tourist arrivals lag behind its ASEAN neighbors. Malaysia ranked first in ASEAN for foreign tourist arrivals in 2012, with the number topping 25 million, followed by Thailand, with 22.35 million; Indonesia, 8.04 million; and Vietnam, 6.85 million.

The Philippines needs sustained tangible efforts to catch up with its ASEAN neighbors in boosting its tourism industry.

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