A lawmaker has called on the Filipino-Chinese community to help in the efforts of the government to avert the ill-effects of the closure of Boracay this week.
This was expressed by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the Mid-Term Regional Members’ Association Conference of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII). Arroyo said the Filipino-Chinese community should do their part in making sure the country keeps the momentum in inviting more Chinese tourists to the country despite the Boracay closure.
“I would want those Chinese tourists who know only Boracay to be able to go to other parts of the Philippines rather than go to Bali [in Indonesia] or Phuket [in Thailand],” she was quoted in a statement as saying. “You, the Filipino Chinese members of the Federation, in your own areas, I hope you would be able to bring them to other areas that are unknown to China, so we don’t lose them to Phuket and to Bali.”
With 1 million Chinese tourists who came to the country last year, Arroyo said she does not want the country to suffer the same way as Thailand did when a tsunami hit Phuket in 2004.
“I mentioned about 1 million Chinese tourists suddenly coming …and so many of them go to Boracay. And now Boracay will be closed for a few months,” Arroyo said. “When the tsunami [hit] Phuket, [w]e benefited because those honeymooners went to Boracay and other parts of the Philippines.”
Boracay attracts about 2 million tourists every year.
She added that the country’s strength lies in the services sector.
Filipinos have the innate traits of being friendly and hospitable, according to the former president.
With the help of the FFCCCII members, and the still many equally beautiful tourist spots around the country, more Chinese tourists will come to the Philippines, Arroyo said.
Earlier, Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur urged the Department of Tourism (DOT) to undertake an aggressive marketing campaign to sell the other prime tourist spots of the country.
Villafuerte said the DOT must do this now as one of the country’s main attractions—Boracay Island—has been ordered closed by President Duterte.
He added the DOT, the local government units and the private sector should work together on new marketing strategies to sell the Philippines as Asia’s premier tourist destination by developing its potentials as an ecotourism and adventure sports hub.
According to the lawmaker, given the right tools, the DOT would not find it difficult to sustain the Philippines’s growing number of foreign tourist arrivals even with the closure of Boracay Island. Villafuerte said this is so given the acknowledgement the country received as among Asia’s booming tourist locations.
“The Philippines was reported in the article with a 10.96-percent growth in 2017 tourist numbers, or 6.6 million, with over 675,000 coming from Europe, 7.3 percent higher compared to the previous year,” he said.
Other violators
Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers of the Second District of Surigao del Norte has asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to check other tourist destinations where business establishments may have been violating environmental laws similar to what happened in Boracay.
“I’m sure this is not just happening in Boracay, but this may also be the case in other tourist destinations,” Barbers said. “The cleanup should start now for the sake of our people living in those areas.”
Earlier, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu announced that 51 establishments were served notices for closure for violating the Clean Water Act of 2004 after these were found to have no wastewater treatment facilities and are dumping sewage into the sea.
Under the law, establishments and households are mandated to dispose of their septic waste through a treatment facility.
Cimatu said while 50 percent to 60 percent of all establishments in Boracay appeared to be compliant with the requirement, “all the rest direct their pipes to the canals, which drains to the sea.”
Barbers said local officials should make sure that all business establishments in their areas will not cause environmental problems.
Data from the Aklan Provincial Tourism Office showed that from January to October 2017 alone, Boracay Island was visited by 1.669 million tourists and generated P46.526 billion in tourism receipts.
Foreigners and Filipinos who live abroad accounted for P31.769 billion of the tourism-related revenue, while domestic tourists spent P14.757 billion.