Manila, Jan. 22 -- The Philippines is refocusing its tourism efforts in attracting more travelers from India, Europe and the sought-after luxury Middle East market as the country compensates with the low Chinese tourist arrivals last year.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco admitted that the small Chinese arrivals last year "devastated" tourism targets as only a little over 300,000 arrived - way beyond its two million target for the year.

"Visa liberalization is critical. And so, with the challenges that we are facing pertaining to the Chinese market, we are now looking at India," she said at the Kapihan sa Manila Prince Hotel on Wednesday.

The department will double its efforts to tap into the growing Indian outbound market, five mill...