Philippine casino operators are bracing for impact over a possible spat with China over tour groups visiting each others’ countries.

On Thursday, Business Mirror reported that Chinese officials had stopped processing visa applications for tour groups from the Philippines as of December 24. A Chinese travel agency alerted its Philippines-based partners that the change was due to “unprofessional operation by a no-license travel agent here in China.”

According to the report, the unspecified Chinese travel agent had admitted a group of Filipino tourists on December 22, after which five of these tourists “disappeared right after arriving at Shanghai PVG airport.” This was reportedly not the first time that this travel agent had admitted Filipino tourists “without checking passengers background and charging guarantee deposit [sic].”

Jose Clemente III, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, noted that the Chinese action currently didn’t apply to individual Filipinos’ visa applications, although most Filipinos who visit China do so via tour groups. However, he suggested that “there should be reciprocity on the part of the Philippine government,” aka banning group visa applications from Chinese-organized tour groups.