Tourists wishing to visit or revisit Boracay will find mixed blessings when the island reopens: while the Environment Department declared that the island’s waters are now “clean”, Puyat also declared that the days of wild parties on the island will be no more.
The Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT) says it will strictly enforce the carrying capacity of Boracay island at 6,405 visitors per day when the resort destination reopens on October 26.
“We have to enforce the carrying capacity because if we don’t, Boracay will return to what it was before. We want it to be sustainable and to be always open,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat said.
Puyat said the government also wants to limit the number of flights to Kalibo and Caticlan to ensure that the target tourist arrivals to Boracay will be maintained.
She also stressed that only hotels and resorts that are 100% compliant with the requirements set forth by the Tourism, Environment and Local Government departments will be allowed to operate.
“They have to be 100% compliant,” Puyat said.
Only 25 establishments - which account for 2,063 out of approximately 15,000 rooms on the island - have so far been found to be compliant.
Tourists wishing to visit or revisit Boracay will find mixed blessings when the island reopens: while the Environment Department declared that the island’s waters are now “clean”, Puyat also declared that the days of wild parties on the island will be no more.
This means no more fire dances, fish feeding, coral picking, and beach bonfires. Resort owners have also been required to put up noise insulation in their establishments, and enforce a no-smoking zone and no-build no-party within 25 metres of the beachfront.