Are Filipinos flocking to China despite political tensions?

“Ang lala ng pila sa China Visa Application Service Center sa Makati,” the netizen wrote.

According to the post, there were 371 people ahead of the applicant during document submission and another 170 waiting for payment. The entire process reportedly took five hours.

The user later clarified that the photograph showing the massive crowd was taken at 9:09 AM on November 6.

The post, which had attracted 59,000 views at the time of the screenshots, sparked reactions from Filipinos surprised by the sudden volume of visa applicants.

Several commenters recalled that applying for a Chinese visa used to be relatively quick, with some claiming they completed their transactions in just 10 to 30 minutes in previous years.

One applicant said the process took only 20 minutes in July 2026.

Others attributed the growing interest to travel vloggers, TikTok videos, Chinese television dramas, affordable travel packages, and the appeal of China’s tourist attractions.

Filipino travel to China jumps 51%

The reported congestion comes as official figures show a sharp increase in Filipino travel to China.

According to Philippine Department of Tourism data reported by BusinessMirror, 234,953 Filipinos traveled to China from January to September 2026, representing a 51.04% increase from the same period in 2025.

That translates to roughly 79,000 additional Filipino travelers in just nine months.

The growth is particularly striking because overall outbound Filipino travel increased by only 7.16% during the same period, reaching approximately 5.58 million departures.

China is therefore growing considerably faster than the overall outbound travel market.

The figures suggest that geopolitical tensions, particularly disputes in the West Philippine Sea, have not prevented more Filipinos from choosing China for leisure travel.

Chinese tourists are also returning

Travel interest is also increasing in the opposite direction.

Figures cited in tourism reports indicate that Chinese visitor arrivals in the Philippines reached 394,394 as of November 4, 2026, up 69.78% from 232,299 during the comparable period in 2025.

China has consequently emerged as the Philippines’ fourth-largest source market for international visitors.

Meanwhile, the viral Makati visa center photographs have raised questions about whether processing facilities can comfortably accommodate the growing number of applicants.

The five-hour wait and the reported 15-day period between online submission and passport collection reflect one applicant’s experience, not necessarily the standard processing time for all travelers.

Still, the crowded scenes highlight a remarkable development: China is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for Filipino travelers, even as political relations between the two countries remain strained.