Tag: tourists

Bali landslide kills two foreign tourists

  BADUNG, Indonesia, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Two foreign tourists including an Australian woman have been killed on the Indonesian resort island of Bali after heavy rain triggered a landslide that swept away their villa, an official said Thursday. Large areas of the archipelago of 17,000 islands are prone to flooding and landslides during the wet season which starts around November. The wooden villa in Jatiluwih village on the popular tourist island was hit […]

Blockbuster movie scares Chinese tourists away from Thailand

BANGKOK, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – For millions of Chinese tourists, Thailand used to be a happy land of delicious food. But thanks to social media rumours and a blockbuster movie, the kingdom’s image among many Chinese people is now one of dangerous illegality and seedy scam border compounds — leaving visitor numbers plummeting. Thailand is hugely reliant on tourism, particularly from China. The country welcomed more than 10 million Chinese visitors each year before […]

Vietnam ends Covid quarantine for international travellers

  HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam announced an end to quarantine for international travellers on Wednesday, as it seeks to restart its tourism industry after two years of strict Covid-19 restrictions. The only virus requirement for visitors will be a negative Covid test, the country’s ministry of health said in a statement. The communist state’s tourism sector was worth up to $32 billion a year before the pandemic, but it ground to a standstill during […]

PHL gov’t, health advisers explain scientific data, soundness of lifting of travel ban for fully vaxxed tourists

Green, Yellow, Red risk classification of countries dropped effective today, Feb. 1, as int’l leisure travel to PHL allowed   (Eagle News) – The Philippine government explained that its decision to allow fully vaccnayed international leisure travelers to come into the country and not undergo facility-based quarantine anymore is based on scientific data and had been studied carefully. Starting today, Tuesday, February 1, the Green, Yellow and Red risk classification for countries based on their […]

Immigration bureau: Tourists still not allowed to enter PHL

(Eagle News) — The Philippines remains closed to tourists. This was reiterated by the Bureau of Immigration, following reports that the bureau’s offices were being swamped with queries  after Metro Manila was placed under the less restrictive Alert Level 2 status. He said, so far, only those under the categories allowed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases may be admitted. He said this was also provided they come from […]

PNP orders police units to closely monitor tourist spots in NCR Plus area as they reopen at 30% maximum capacity

(Eagle News) — Philippine National Police Chief Guillermo Eleazar ordered all police units to closely monitor tourist spots and other leisure spots in the NCR Plus area, as they reopen under a general community quarantine but with heightened restrictions. In a statement, Eleazar noted that over the weekend, people already started visiting outdoor tourist attractions which were allowed to operate at a 30% maximum capacity. The GCQ with heightened restrictions–which covers Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, […]

Immigration bureau: Foreign tourists still not allowed to enter PHL

(Eagle News) — Foreign tourists are still not allowed to enter the Philippines. The Bureau of Immigration issued the clarification, as it added that that particular restriction has yet to be lifted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Immigration bureau chief Jaime Morente said the recent easing of travel restrictions applies only to foreign nationals who were allowed to enter the Philippines before March 22, when the country imposed […]

Volcano eruption in Russia’s Far East lures ‘daredevil’ tourists

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The eruption of a volcano on a Russian peninsula has attracted thrill-seeking tourists risking their lives for picturesque photos, prompting concerns in recent days from local emergency responders. The Klyuchevskaya Sopka on Kamchatka, a volcanic peninsula in Russia’s Far East, is the tallest volcano in Eurasia at 4,750 metres (15,580 feet) and one of the largest active volcanoes in the world. It erupted last month on its northwestern slope, seeping lava […]

Southeast Asia facing billions of dollars in losses from collapse in Chinese tourism due to virus fears

https://youtu.be/o15Ei–Kblk by Aidan Jones, with Dene-Hern Chen in Pattaya, Thailand Agence France Presse Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle: Southeast Asia is facing billions of dollars in losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of a deadly new coronavirus. From Luang Prabang in northern Laos to Pattaya in Thailand, Hoi An in Vietnam and the Cambodian casino town of Sihanoukville, takings have plummeted as Chinese travellers find […]

Bhutan makes Indians pay ‘sustainable development fee’

THIMPHU, Bhutan (AFP) — Bhutan is introducing a “sustainable development fee” for regional tourists following a spike in Indian visitors that has sparked worries for the unique Himalayan kingdom’s cherished ecology. The majority of tourists already cough up $250 per day in high season — including meals, transport, and accommodation — to visit the country of 750,000 people famous for putting happiness before economic growth and being carbon negative. But this “high value, low impact” […]

Thousands trapped on Australia beach encircled by fire

  by Andrew BEATTY Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Thousands of holidaymakers and locals were trapped on a beach in fire-ravaged southeast Australia Tuesday, as blazes ringed a popular tourist area leaving no escape by land. As many as four thousand people are trapped on the foreshore of the encircled seaside town of Mallacoota, as smoke turned day to night and the authorities said nearby fires were causing extreme thunderstorms and “ember attacks”. […]

DFA: 3 Filipino tourists sentenced to jail in HK for using forged docs to open bank accounts

(Eagle News)—-Three Filipino call center employees were sentenced to five months in prison in Hong Kong after they opened bank accounts there using forged documents, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. In a statement, the DFA said the three were meted out a “reduced sentence for pleading guilty to two counts of “using a false instrument” before the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts. The DFA said the call center employees went to Hong Kong as tourists in […]