The tourist arrival statistics in July this year provided by the Palau Visitors Authority (PVA) to the media showed that the number of tourists from China continues to go down.
Based on the statistics, Chinese tourists made up 42% or 3,787 of the total number of tourists that visited Palau in July alone. Last month, Chinese tourists were numbered 3,907 but around the same month last year, they totaled 6,616.
Despite the downward trend of Chinese tourists visiting the country, Chinese visitors remained to be on top of the arrival statistics. PVA, however noted, that tourists from Japan totaling 1,104, South Korea, 1,227, Taiwan, 1,401, and US/Canada, 867, showed an increase from last month.
The number of tourists coming from China to Palau had been one of the main discussions in Palauan community after the Sea Passion Group, the company that operates the Palau Pacific Airways (PPA) and Sea Passion Hotel in Palau, announced that it would end its flights as the company struggles with the drastic drop of Chinese tourists visiting the country after China tagged Palau as an illegal destination due to its links with Taiwan.
PPA is the second airline that announced suspension of Palau flights this year after Delta Airlines which had already stopped operations on May 6. (Rhealyn C. Pojas)