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PHILIPPINES-ENVIRONMENT-TOURISM-BORACAY
Philippines plans party crackdown on re-opened Boracay
MANILA, Oct 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Beach boozing and smoking will be
consigned to the past when Boracay, the Philippines’ top holiday island,
welcomes back a capped number of tourists after its six-month shutdown,
authorities said Wednesday.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the resort shuttered to
visitors in April, after declaring years of unchecked growth had turned the
white-sand idyll into a “cesspool”.
When hotel doors re-open on October 26, the island known for its party
atmosphere will crack down on drinking and smoking on its beaches, while only
19,000 tourists will be allowed at any one time.
The rules are aimed at protecting the island’s fragile ecosystem, where up
to 40,000 beachgoers were unwinding on its sand and swimming in its turquoise
waters at peak periods.
“We wanted the beachfront to be clean and to be occupied by tourists,”
Environment Undersecretary Sherwin Rigor said on ABS-CBN TV. “There are more
people who want to engage in wholesome activities.”
Before closure, the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) island drew two million
tourists a year, pumping roughly $1 billion in revenue into the economy.
The government said Boracay’s closure contributed to a sharp slowdown in
Philippine economic growth in the second quarter, but Duterte said the
cleanup was worth it.
In the run up to the re-opening, bars, restaurants and hotels were being
demolished to restore a 30-metre (100-foot) stretch of sand between the water
and tourist areas.
This belt will be off-limits to drinking, smoking, weddings, vendors, and
massage providers — activities which can be done inside hotels and
restaurants, Rigor said.
The new rules are also set to ban the huge “Laboracay” multi-day beach
parties attended by tens of thousands of tourists during the weekend that
includes May 1, Labour Day, which is also the peak of the tourist season.
The government will only allow 6,000 hotel rooms, half the current total,
with the rest seen going out of business for failing to comply with
environmental and other regulations, the official said.
Boracay hotels are now required to put up their own sewage treatment
plants, while garbage will be put on a barge every night and shipped across
the sea to a landfill, Rigor said.
The Boracay Foundation, the main business industry group on the island,
said it had no comment on the new rules which have not been officially
conveyed to it.
“Other agencies usually consult with us and ask for our comments. So we are
unsure yet if these are official or not,” its executive director Pia
Miraflores told AFP.
Another environment undersecretary, Benny Antiporda, told AFP all these
rules will be enforced from October 26, but he did not rule out a compromise
if the local businesses asked for it.
“They should take the initiative… Weren’t they the same ones who
destroyed Boracay in the first place?” Antiporda added.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1635 hrs