Palace looking forward to welcoming more Chinese tourists after 'blacklist' kerfuffle
Malacañang seems relieved after the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines clarified that the country is not on its blacklist for tourists and is looking forward to hosting more Chinese nationals in the future.

Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said this after the Chinese Embassy in Manila denied that the Philippines is on China's "tourist blacklist" due to issues hounding Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs).
In a statement, the Embassy said that the report, which Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri initially shared, was "misinformation."
"China has not placed the Philippines on its blacklist for tourism," it clarified.
In a press briefing, Garafil said Malacañang shares China's sentiment that tourism is integral to the relationship between the two countries.
"We share the sentiment of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines that tourism is an important facet our relationship," she said.
The Palace official said they are looking forward to having more Chinese tourists visit the Philippines.
"We look forward to continuing that relationship as we continuously welcome our friends from China," Garafil said.
"We anticipate more of them to come in the months and years ahead," she added.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian shared the same sentiment in a Facebook post.
"Tourism is an important component of practical cooperation between China and the Philippines which has helped further deepen the long-time friendship between the two peoples," he wrote.
"We expect more Chinese tourists to come to this country after the pandemic," he added.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic put the world to a halt, around 1.74 Chinese nationals traveled to the Philippines in 2019, making China the second largest source of tourists.