Philippines shut down Boracay Island for 6 months

Boracay Island, one of Asia’s top beach destinations, famed for its lush green palm trees, white sandy beaches, and pristine blue water, will be shut for 6 months starting, 26th April. So if you have booked your tickets already, it’s time to take a refund.

According to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, no tourist would be allowed to visit the island during the shutdown.
Earlier this year as well Duterte had threatened the island’s tourism, in order to stop garbage from getting dumped into the ocean. The word ‘cesspool’ was used by him to describe the condition of the island and seems like he was serious.

As island’s famous beaches and crystal clear water has been transformed into a “cesspool’’ due to the rapid development and pollution, which is threatening its idyllic shores.
"As long as there is s*** coming out of those pipes, I will never give you the time of the day to return to the island," Duterte said.

The island lacks the proper sewage system, and as a result lots of hotels and tourism related business push their dump into the sea. Therefore government has planned to use the down time to maintain the drainage system, which is the main reason for the deplorable condition.


The shutdown of 6 months would impact the lives of 36000 people residing on the island and the business generation is from tourism only, thus the move will blow the nations’ target to attract 7.4 million tourists this year.

About 15 percent of the 6.6 million tourists in the Philippines visited Boracay last year, spending 56 billion pesos in the destination.

Although the closure is temporary, and if all goes according to the plan, you can again travel to the Boracay Island.