Tourist caterers in the Philippines including airlines, hotels, and travel agencies have been hit hard after China issued a travel warning against visiting Southeast Asian countries during its weeklong holidays.

Popular beaches in Boracay Island in the Philippines are usually teeming with tourists from all over the world especially during this time of the year.

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This year, however, the white-sand beaches of Boracay had been awfully quiet with the number of visitors plummeting significantly after China issued a travel warning in September urging citizens to avoid going to the Philippines because of a "worsened security situation in the Philippines."

According to its advisory, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs deemed it unsafe for Chinese nationals to be in the archipelagic country, citing a reported bombing plot, an abduction of an 18-year-old man and the general threat of criminal gangs as the main cause of the travel warning.

Though Philippine law enforcement had dismissed the bombing plot involving a fringe politician armed with firecrackers and China's embassy has yet to confirm if the kidnapped teen is indeed Chinese, the number of visitors to the country from the Asian giant have declined.

According to Boracay Foundation Inc. President Dionisio Salme, visitors to the popular beaches of Boracay dropped from 18,479 in August to 7,000 in September.

The same statistics trend continued throughout China's weeklong holiday earlier in October which is usually the peak seasons for travelers from China.

Airlines were also affected by the travel warning as nearly 150 chartered Cebu Pacific (CEB) flights have been cancelled, resulting in a loss of more than 24,000 passengers while Kalibo-bound AirAsia flights from Beijing and Shanghai were also suspended.

Despite the travel advisory taking its toll in its fourth week, CEB Corporate Affairs Vice President Jorenz Tanada remain "cautiously optimistic."

"CEB continues to operate scheduled commercial flights to and from mainland China," he said in a statement expressing his hopes that the travel advisory will soon be lifted.

Tagstourism, Boracay Island, tourists, boracay, travel advisory