China finds a playground in the
Philippines By Antoaneta
Bezlova
BORACAY, Philippines - From sand
replicas of the Great Wall on the fine, white
beaches to rowdy banquets of singing moon-gazers,
traces of China's expanding economic boom are
everywhere to be found on this tiny Philippine
island, an hour by plane from Manila.
Once
a backpacker's haven and until recently a
destination for South Korean divers and
honeymooners, Boracay is now attracting crowds of
tourists from mainland China who arrive
stunned by its pristine white
beaches and eager to lose their
government-instilled inhibitions.
"I have
never seen such beauty," confessed Xu Lijia, a
young Chinese woman, sipping coconut juice through
a straw straight out of the shell at Coco Loco,
one of the island's iconic backpacker hangouts.
"It is better to be here than anywhere else,
shopping or sightseeing. It is really relaxing."
Indoctrinated to comply with Western
standards of etiquette when they travel to Europe,
Chinese tourists find the laid-back and friendly
attitude of their Filipino hosts refreshing. "You
don't need to worry what you wear or what you say,
nor how you say it," mused Xu. "Everything goes."
A Chinese New Year banquet on the beach
exemplified the ease many Chinese tourists felt on
their arrival even as such traditional New Year
trimmings as firecrackers and dumplings were
absent from the fare. After quickly making their
way through piles of seafood delicacies such as
the local Lapu-Lapu fish and freshly grilled
lobsters, tourists began to drown the tunes of the
Filipino live band with their own renditions of
Bob Marley.
Games of finger-snapping were
noisily played over the tables where rum and cola
had substituted the Chinese fiery spirit bai
jiu, while video cameras recorded the night
feast played out against an enormous star-dotted
sky and tranquil sea.
"We have seen more
and more mainland Chinese tourists coming here in
recent years, especially over Chinese New year,"
said Francis Tayengo, a beach-resort owner in
Boracay. "For them it is a new way of celebrating
the festival, but they seem to like it and keep
coming back."
Locals welcome the boost to
their tourist industries that Chinese travelers
bring as they go diving, sailing on bangcas
(traditional Philippine boats) and snorkeling in
the waters off White Beach.
"It is not a
place where big spenders would come," said Xu, who
arrived as part of a Chinese tourist group in
which many were traveling abroad for the first
time. "It is too small and the shopping is not
very exciting, but the scenery is fantastic."
With more cash to spend, even people with
moderate incomes among China's rapidly growing
middle class are now going abroad in large
numbers.
In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese
traveled overseas. By 2005, the figure had
increased to 31 million. By the end of 2006, the
Chinese government had given 129 countries
approved-destination status, which means tourist
groups no longer have to go through a complicated
process to go abroad.
Both Chinese and
international travel industry experts forecast
that at least 50 million Chinese tourists will
travel overseas annually by 2010 and 100 million
by 2020. By then, the World Tourism Organization
predicts that China will be the world's largest
source of tourism.
In Asia, China has
already overtaken Japan to become the largest
source of outbound travelers. The vast majority
restrict their travel to Hong Kong and Macau, but
a growing number of mainland Chinese tourists now
travel further, filling more Asian aircraft, hotel
rooms and beaches.
Yet the vast numbers of
travelers leaving the country have created
headaches for Chinese custodians of good manners.
With little exposure to the outside world, some
Chinese travelers have found themselves criticized
abroad for spitting, shouting and rolling up their
trousers or exposing their bellies to keep cool.
"At a time when tourists are becoming
China's latest export, the 'China man' has become
a synonym for the uncivilized and coarse person,"
lamented the weekly Southern Weekend in a recent
opinion piece.
Image-conscious government
officials have been quick to put together a code
of conduct recommended for travelers going abroad,
called "The Guide". While not compulsory, The
Guide is expected to act as a reminder to tourists
of their public role.
"We might not be
official China envoys when we go abroad, but we
have got to remember that we are Chinese people
and foreigners will judge us as representatives of
our country," said Liu Deqian, a professor of
tourist studies at Beijing Union University who
took part in the compilation of The Guide.
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