BEIJING: China Southern Airlines, one of China’s three major airlines, has announced that it is reducing flights to the Philippines as the number of tourists to the Southeast Asian nation shrinks amid tensions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

The airline will reduce the number of flights between the Chinese city of Guangzhou and Manila to just one a day on certain dates between May 26 and June 30. The airline normally operates two flights daily on the route.

An airline spokesman said on Tuesday that the adjustment was made following the recent cancellation of “a large number of tourist groups.”

Major Chinese travel agencies have announced the cancellation of package tours to the Philippines after China’s National Tourism Administration issued a travel advisory earlier this month, warning that Chinese citizens are not safe in the Southeast Asian country.

The advisory came after the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines warned its citizens of “massive anti-China demonstrations” in connection with the ongoing standoff in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, which both Manila and Beijing have claims to.

On Sunday, the tourism administration said that almost all mainland Chinese on group tours will leave the Philippines by today.

Major airlines serving the Chinese mainland and cities in the Philippines include Air China, China Southern, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air.

Tensions in the West Philippine Sea started in early April, when a Philippine warship confronted 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near the shoal.

Chinese officials have insisted that Panatag is an inherent part of China’s territory and that its surrounding waters are historic fishing areas for Chinese fishermen.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Monday urged the Philippines to “refrain from taking action that could expand and complicate the situation.”