The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is pitching for the implementation of a QR code system to monitor and control the number of tourists visiting Boracay Island.
This as the DENR is now discussing a workable action plan with officials and representatives of Task Force Boracay from the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Province of Aklan, and the Municipal Government of Malay.
The Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation and Management Group (BIARMG) has earlier reported that the surge in the number of visitors breached the government-set carrying capacity of the island during the Holy Week break on April 14 and 15, with 21,011 and 22,278 tourist arrivals, respectively.
A study commissioned by the DENR in 2018 bared that Boracay Island’s carrying capacity is 19,215 tourists a day, or about 6,405 arrivals a day based on an average three-day stay.
“We are now discussing possible adjustments on policies and what strategies we will take to prevent this from happening again in the future,” DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Atty. Jonas R. Leones said in a news statement.
Setting up a carrying capacity is in line with the DENR’s ongoing mission to protect and conserve the environment in Boracay.
If the population continuously exceeds the given carrying capacity, the ecosystem may become unsuitable for other species on the island to survive, or other resources may deplete.
BIARMG General Manager Martin Jose Despi explained that one of their recommended measures to prevent another overcrowding in Boracay is to integrate the use of QR codes in contact tracing into a control program aligned with monitoring the number of tourists going to the renown island resort.
In line with this, a proposed real-time monitoring system is necessary to see the total number of tourists issued with the QR code on a particular date.
Despi recommended a review of the data of airline and shipping passengers and the total number of accommodations that booked tourists to prevent overbooking.
“We need an integrated information technology system that would take care of all these capabilities,” said Despi.
“The moment that we put in place a relevant system or software, all of this would be properly addressed,” he added.
Leones said that DENR’s Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau would be tasked to study the possibility of increasing the island’s carrying capacity, noting that the “DENR’s policies should be based on science.”