Ot: mm..finally, a DOT secretary who knows the real score.....hopefully, she will have laser-like focus in increasing tourism arrival. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/991838/dot-chief-not-happy-with-just-6-6-m-tourist-arrivals
We never thought we would never see again the Boracay we thought we have lost. Photo grabbed from DIY Travel Philippines FB group. Credit to the owner of this photo. And thanks Mr. President.
so who’s going oct 26? We’re booked oct 27-oct 31. Problem is, chosen resort is not on list of government accredited resorts fully paid & agoda won’t reimburse. Pwede ba yon? will chase the resort.
not this year, we wanted to try Coco Huts (Station 1). after threatening that I will loop in DTI on my next e-mail, both Agoda & the resort promptly reimbursed me. now we're booked at Fairways & Bluewater. We lost direct access to the beach but I it's an upgrade, which I'm sure our kids will appreciate. just got this travel advisory: Please be ready to present a confirmed hotel or resort booking with a Department of Tourism (DOT)-accredited hotel, at the Caticlan jetty port, before entering Boracay island. To avoid any inconvenience, we strongly advise you to check if your chosen hotel or resort is included in the list of DOT-accredited establishments. For more information, please visit http://www.tourism.gov.ph/ , https://www.facebook.com/DepartmentOfTourism/ or @TourismPHL on Twitter buti na lang!
Good! Hennan Regency is in trouble now due to falsification of documents. Upper management said they had no idea daw why the employee would submit a fabricated document.
Mm...heard the other night that the first tourist arrivals in Boracay was a mind- boggling, earth-shaking number of.....drum roll please......19 tourists. No, not 19,000, just 19. . Hopefully, it will pick-up during the lean season (oct., Nov., Dec.). No smoking. No drinking. No parties. No water sports. No sand castles. No fire dance performance. No beach-side massage. Great! Pretty soon, Boracay will be a very popular tourism spot for retired priests, nuns and spinsters. Hello, Miss Tapia! Ganda ng bikini mo. Whoops, bawal na rin pala ang bikini.
^ I honestly wouldn’t mind (only thing we’d miss is water sports). Those are our reasons for still having Bohol as our happy place. Meron din naman sa Bohol, but Boracay ‘was’ just too much. But yes, bad for tourism. There must be some middle ground, like sand castles, which I understand will be regulated (whatever that means).
^They had better numbers on Friday...2470 people came...2410 were workers, employees, ambulant vendors, security guards and boatmen, roughly 50 local tourists and Angie Strangie and her family of Russian imports... Without the fanfare, screaming, lewd visuals and party nights, Boracay is actually a ghost town...Panglao Bay in Bohol and San Juan in La Union are more vibrant and hectic now, which is a good thing...
Mm...yeah.....from 19 to 60 tourists in Boracay. Compared to the last 3 months before the total closure, it was 588,000. Looking at the bigger picture, according to the DOT, foreign tourism arrivals for first 6 months of 2018 increased by 10% (compared to first 6 months of 2017) to 3.7 million arrivals. That’s an improvement, I guess. Meanwhile in Vietnam, a poorer country than the PH (in terms of tourism attractions and infrastructure), registered this for the first 8 months of 2018 (source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism): I can just imagine what those numbers would be once their tourism infrastructure improves and exceeds ours.
Glad my "home" for the last 16 New Year's was accredited, especially since my flights were booked even before the approved list was released. Also glad that Ambassador Hotel wasn't accredited. About 10 years ago, my friend paid more than Php 10,000/night for a two-level suite there. The moon was full that New Year's eve. After the midnight festivities, they went back to their suite, only to find that their entire basement floor was covered with half an inch of sewage. "Oh shit" is an understatement. Apparently, the full moon tide caused sewage to back up—into ground floor rooms. Two things became apparent to me: They were dumping sewage into the open water (WTF); and their back-flow valve (if they had one) wasn't working. The European owner wasn't even apologetic, like "shit happens". Heck, i hope they never re-open. Personally, I don't mind all the restrictions. There are only two types of cultures/mindsets: dualistic and nondualistic. I won't bother explaining them, since most people prefer their convenient delusion over the Inconvenient Truth. Bottom line: the world was brought to ruins by dualists. The only people who should be given uncurtailed freedom are nondualists. But 99.99% of Pinoys are dualists, thanks to 400+ years of western (Spanish + American) influence. Hence, their freedoms should be curtailed, ala Singapore. Otherwise, the dualistic mindset will play itself out—me, myself, and I.
@raypin and @rbenzon - very interesting insights indeed, even if were far behind from the original tourist numbers in Boracay were in the right direction of rehabilitation, just think if the government did not make this move, Boracay might be worst in the next 10 years, i been there twice an i still marvel of the powdery sand and the pristine clear waters.
Mm.debate about choosing total closure or partial closure is immaterial. It was done. All I am interested in is whether Boracay tourism can still be resuscitated. Why? Because the DOT/DENR are said to be thinking of replicating this draconian measure all over the country. Think Coron, Panglao, etc. I am trying to stay positive but the wider, economic implications of Boracay are very clear to me. Think of the livelihood of 1 million Filipinos, and their dependents, that are employed by the tourism industry. Billions of dollars are at stake. Hotels, restaurants, guides, travel agencies, airlines etc. Not to mention the multiplier effect on the economy. When a business expands, revenues are generated throughout the supply chain (your suppliers and their suppliers, your contractors and their sub-contractors etc.). Conversely, when you close a business, it will have a negative impact throughout the supply chain. Multiplier effect. Pre-closure, Boracay, alone, generated nearly USD 1B in annual revenues. For an island that covers only 1,024 hectares, that is astounding (that is one hell of a productive acreage). We ll know in a few months time if it was worth it.
^ This i have to agree, the way it was implemented is indeed a hard hit to the lowly workers as well as the big investors, and yes only time would tell if what this administration did is effective and correct, looking at the overall situation of the economy its an “all hands on deck” mode for everyone whether what colour in politics you are, and no I’m not a pro Duterte nor even pro Aquino, I’m just looking forward for a better future for my family in the next decades to come.
mm..it’s only money right? While you are thinking of baby sharks and turtles, I am thinking of real people with real children...about how they lost their jobs...and no money to buy food and can no longer afford to send their children to school.....the funny thing about people who are hungry is they do crazy bat-shit stuff....like...oh lemme’ guess: join the armed subversive movements. Lots of angry, hungry people = fertile ground for recruitment. It feels so familiar. Shades of the 1970s and 1980s.
My mother in law (she's was nurse) had a medical mission in Boracay in the 80's. I saw some old pics and would try to find it to share. And there was an old PAL ("shining through" theme song) that featured the late 80's Boracay. I get goosebumps watching in awe of the old beauty of the island. Had just visited the island once, and it was 21 years ago!
The bottomline still is whether Boracay (or any tourist destination) can stay profitable much longer than when rehabilitated. Talk of a dying Boracay has been going around for years...the new Boracay is like a reset to its former glory in the 90s - just like my wife said...will try to see how it looks then.
Actually you (and the decision makers) should really think of both. They’re not mutually exclusive. You can’t think of the real people and not think of the baby sharks and baby turtles. The solutions should consider and cover both. People aren’t more important than the environment, and baby sea life aren’t more important than people, they’re equally important
