DoT chief: POGO concerns won’t affect tourism industry
Credit to Author: LISBET K. ESMAEL| Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2019 17:36:16 +0000
THE Department of Tourism (DoT) assured on Wednesday that uncertainties surrounding Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and the increased scrutiny they face would not affect the country’s tourism sector.
On the sidelines of the launch of her department’s partnership with ride-hailing firm Grab Philippines in Manila, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat shrugged off concerns over the impact of the possible withdrawal of these operators from the country on the industry, saying it was “more of [a] Bureau of Immigration problem….”
Her remarks come after Beijing had called on Manila to ban online gambling involving its citizens in the country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news conference last week that China hoped the Philippines would prohibit online gambling, and that both countries would “jointly tackle criminal activities, including online gambling and cyber fraud,” which he said would help create an improved environment for their bilateral relations to flourish.
His statement came after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. decided to suspend issuing new licenses to POGOs until security concerns raised over their presence in the country have been ironed out.
Puyat’s remarks also come after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced on Tuesday that it had tapped the Anti-Money Laundering Council to study the impact of POGOs on the country’s economy.
At the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Economic Forum in Manila, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank had “authorized the study to find out if it [would] be good for the country if we keep or discontinue the POGO.”
“We are already studying the possibility of putting some sense [into] this online gambling,” he added.
China is the top source of tourists to the Philippines after South Korea, according to Puyat.
Data from the DoT showed that foreign arrivals reached 4.1 million in the first half of 2019, up 11.43 percent from the year-ago figure.
WITH A REPORT FROM MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO