Philippines 'as risky as Syria' for Hong Kong tourists, as black travel alert remains
Despite rising visitor numbers, black travel alert stays in place after hostage crisis
The Philippines remains as dangerous a country to visit as war-torn Syria, according to the Hong Kong government.
More than two-and-a-half years after the Manila hostage crisis, security chiefs still refuse to lift the black travel alert.
And that's despite new figures showing that more Hong Kong and mainland tourists are visiting the Philippines than ever before.
Seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide were shot dead when a sacked Manila police officer hijacked their tour bus in the city's Rizal Park in August 2010.
Since then the Philippines has had a black alert against it under the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) system, which means Hong Kong tourists face a severe threat in the country and should avoid travelling there.
The only other country for which there is a black alert is Syria, where civil war has left at least 60,000 people dead, reducing villages, towns and cities to rubble and creating a massive wave of refugees.
But according to the Philippines Department of Tourism, Hong Kong is now the ninth-highest source of visitors to the country. Figures released last week showed the number of arrivals from Hong Kong rose 2.78 per cent from 2011 to 118,666.