BOOKING cancellations in Boracay Island have reached an initial P100 million due to its six-month closure, which began on Thursday, April 26.
This was the revelation of Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International Inc. (HSMA) President Christine Ann U. Ibarreta in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “That’s just for two months,” she said, basing on reports of their association members who have properties on the popular resort island. She said she assumed “the figure would be higher with other resorts included,” and for the entire six months the island will be closed.
“The problem is, those who have canceled are transferring to other destinations abroad, not here in the Philippines,” she pointed out, “because Cebu, Bohol, etc. are full, as well, and it’s peak season, being summer.” Ibarreta explained many foreign tourists make their bookings six months to a year before their actual travel to the Philippines, thus the other equally popular local destinations had already been booked beforehand.
As this developed, economist John Paolo R. Rivera of the Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism laid the Boracay environmental mess squarely on the doorsteps of the government for promoting the island without considering its carrying capacity.
Speaking during the HSMA’s general membership meeting at The Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros, Rivera said, “We promoted it. So naturally, people came. But did you consider Boracay’s carrying capacity? Someone didn’t do his homework.”
He suggested that Boracay go for higher-spending tourists and that the government limit the number of arrivals, much like Bhutan, once the carrying capacity is determined. “Make Boracay expensive,” he proposed; this way, the stress on the island’s environment will be reduced and result in “sustainable tourism.”
He said while the number of visitor arrivals is an important number in determining tourism success, it was better to prioritize higher expenditures or income earned from tourists instead.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is currently conducting a study to determine the carrying capacity of Boracay. It was expected to release the results of this study last week. The Department of Tourism had earlier determined that Boracay had breached its carrying capacity in 2009, when tourist arrivals then hit 650,000.
In a separate interview, Teody E. Espallardo, director of Sales and Marketing of Alta Briza Resort in Boracay, said his 108-room resort is recording revenue losses of some P8 million a month due to the closure of Boracay. “We had high blockings until next year,” he said, noting that his guests were Chinese and Koreans who had chartered flights to Kalibo for their stay. “So we had to refund them,” he lamented on the sidelines of HSMA GMM.
For her part, Carmela H. Bocanegra, vice president for sales and marketing at Chroma Hospitality, operator of Crimson Hotels and Resorts, said there were opportunity losses incurred because their Boracay resort had just soft-opened in March.
“Until now, we still have guests checking out of the resort,” one of who is a British celebrity that she declined to name to keep his privacy. “But we were jump-starting [as we opened in March], and business had been good so far, so it was just unfortunate that Boracay had to be closed,” she said.
While Bocanegra was unable to give the exact amount of revenue losses from the six-month closure of the island, she admitted, “there were a lot of cancellations. We have encouraged them to rebook.” She underscored though, “confidence in Boracay is still very high; weddings in 2019 is good for us.” Yet, most of their guests who opted to rebook their vacations have pushed these to next year, “as no one is really sure if the island will, indeed, reopen after six months.”
Meanwhile, HSMA’s Ibarreta announced the “Great Room Sale” to be held on May 30 and 31 at the Glorietta 3 Activity Center, Makati City, which will offer travel junkies “discounts of up to 60 percent to 70 percent on hotel and resort rooms, plus a free upgrade to the next room category or suite.”
Participating establishments are: Ace Suites, Astoria Hotels and Resort, Azalea Hotels and Residences, Bayleaf Hotels, Best Western Hotel, Bluewater Resorts, Conrad Hotels, Golden Phoenix, Island Cove, Seda Hotels, and many more. Entrance to the event is free.
HSMA is the Philippines’s premier organization of hotels and resorts, which provides hotel sales and marketing professionals with tools, insights and expertise to continually grow their brand and remain relevant in the dynamic tourism industry. Established in 1979 at an informal gathering of directors of sales and marketing of top Metro Manila hotels, the group counts over 120 hotels and resorts in the country as member-partners.
Image credits: Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo