By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror
TOTAL visitor arrivals in Boracay Island plunged by some 53 percent to 942,533 in 2018, from the historic high of 2 million the previous year. The massive drop in the number of tourists is attributed to the island’s six-month closure from April 26 to October 26, which gave way to the rehabilitation effort of government agencies led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) also showed of total visitor arrivals, 60 percent or 565,530 were foreign tourists, while the rest where Philippine residents and Filipinos residing abroad.
DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination & Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. expressed optimism that foreign tourists would continue to look at Boracay as a major destination in Asia, especially now that it has been reopened and restored to its pristine glory. He noted that in his trip last November to attend the World Travel Market in London, “there was heightened interest in Boracay, especially with the rehabilitation it had undergone; many were eager to visit.” Tourists from the United Kingdom account for among the largest number of European visitors to Boracay.
As this developed, at least P340 million will be spent this year by member-agencies of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) to continue the upgrading of infrastructure on the popular resort island.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, DENR Undersecretary for Attached Agencies Sherwin Rigor said the largest capital outlay of some P300 million will be for “phase two” of the main road construction project on the island. This is being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The DPWH had previously committed to complete the widening of the main road until the Elizalde property on Station 1 by the island’s reopening on October 26. The agency, however, failed to achieve the target ostensibly due to the rains brought on by the monsoon season.
He added, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) will also spend P25 million to put up a “complete lighting system on the main beachfront, Diniwid Beach, and other alleys.” He said these will be solar lighting systems with atop posts, with a battery system to enable them to be lit at night. “This will be installed by February; the project is being bid out this January,” said Rigor.
Since the island reopened last October 26, locals and tourists have been complaining of the dark beachfront, giving rise to safety concerns. The BIATF had earlier removed the lights along the beachfront because these were nailed to the coconut trees, which is considered an environmental violation.
Another major project by the BIATF, is a P15-million park development project in Wetland No. 4, to be funded by Tieza. Wetland No. 4, which is the lagoon across the main road from McDonald’s at D’Mall, is being rehabilitated by the Aboitiz Group. According to the DENR official, the Aboitiz project will include a floating garden on the lagoon itself, “so we will have a carbon exchange.”
On the other hand, the Tieza park project will include a car park, public restrooms, park benches and facilities for persons with disability. The project will likely be completed by October-November 2019, Rigor said.
“Those are big projects, especially the common lighting system,” he noted. “These will include CCTV cameras, whose images will be transmitted to the task force’s command center on the island, but linked up to the police, local government unit and other authorities,” he added. The command center will likely be turned over to the Boracay Island development authority that will be created by President Duterte.
Rigor said the President will likely sign the executive order setting up a body to oversee the management of Boracay Island “this year,” or before the expiration of EO 53 creating the BIATF. The BIATF is supposed to cease to exist by May 8, 2020, or two years after its creation.
Earlier, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat had announced that an EO creating a management authority to oversee Boracay will be headed by her agency, the DOT, but will still include her counterparts at the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Interior and Local Government.
Rigor said the BIATF will act as the “transitional authority” to the new development authority. While lawmakers in both houses of Congress have already filed their respective bills creating the island authority patterned after the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and similar government agencies, he expressed doubts said bills could be passed and approved before the first half of the year, due to the elections this May.