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Raissa Robles

The killer waves that devastated the tourist playgrounds in Thailand and South Asia 20 days ago are bringing an unexpected  business surge to  Philippine beaches, but officials deny they are exploiting the tragedy.

Philippine Airlines flights from Hong Kong to the central Philippine islands of Cebu and  Boracay are fully booked until the  Lunar New Year.

Upscale resorts like Amanpulo - the playground of the likes of movie stars Robert de Niro and Tom Cruise, and  models Claudia Schiffer  and Naomi Campbell - have firm bookings for the whole year.

Manila's tourism secretary Joseph Ace Durano  denied  suggestions the government was exploiting the tragedy that befell rival Asian tourist spots to divert clientele to Manila.

'There is no need for vulture tourism. There is really enough traffic out there for everyone.

'Historically ... this is really the peak months of our beach destinations.'

He said he had no information about whether bookings had been diverted to the Philippines.

But according to Abacus,   a  system linking major Asian  airlines and  40,000 hotels worldwide: 'Gross bookings and net arrivals into China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan increased during the last two weeks indicating that many travellers who cancelled bookings to affected areas have switched to other destinations within Asia-Pacific.'

According to confidential tourism department documents seen by the South China Morning Post, Manila has instructed its  tourism officials overseas to contact foreign tour operators 'to divert bookings to the Philippines'.

One internal memo dated December 29 noted that 'for the European market, the following: Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, Palawan, Leyte and maybe Davao will be alternative destinations to Phuket, Maldives, and Malaysia'.

Mr Durano said he was not  factoring the tsunami into this year's targets and projections. 'The market has a short-term memory,' he said.

'All major tourist organisations project a rebound in [tsunami-affected areas] in six months' time.'

Last year, despite terrorist warnings from the US, Britain and Australia, 2.26 million tourists came - topping the record   high of 2.22 million in 1997, he said.



Manila 'not engaging in vulture tourism'