Destinations known | Boracay to reopen, despite incomplete infrastructure and only 25 operational hotels

On October 1, Thailand’s Maya Bay became the face of unsustainable tourism when the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation announced that its temporary closure would be extended indefinitely. Ever since its paradisiacal appeal was immortalised by The Beach, a 2000 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, its white sands and crystalline waters have been a magnet for Thailand-bound travellers, and the ensuing influx of as many as 5,000 people a day left the bay’s fragile ecosystem in tatters.

“Maya Bay is like a patient who needs plenty of time to recover from an illness after an operation,” said Datchanee Emphandhu, an assistant professor at Kasetsart University, in Bangkok, speaking to Thai newspaper The Nation. “The damage could be irreversible.”

But while Maya Bay continues to receive much-needed treatment for overtourism, Boracay, in the Philippines – which was closed to visitors in April for the same reasons – is preparing to “soft open” on October 15, well before its own recovery is complete.

Acting on a Department of Environment and Natural Resources study into the “carrying capacity” of the island, findings of which were presented at a public hearing on September 28, authorities will cap the number of visitors at 19,125 at any given time. Prior to its shutdown, the island hosted up to 70,000 tourists at a time in peak periods, according to Condé Nast Traveler, readers of which voted Boracay the best island in the world, in 2014. “This itty-bitty island […] is as close to a tropical idyll as you’ll find in Southeast Asia,” the magazine concluded.

Travellers can stay at one of the 249 hotels and resorts allowed to do business on the island – 430 were in operation before the closure – but as of October 7, only 25 have received the accreditation necessary to reopen their doors from the Department of Tourism (DOT), reports Philippine national newspaper BusinessMirror.

An October 8 article in The Philippine Star revealed that of the 2,474 hotels and restaurants inspected by authorities, only 560 were found to be compliant with new regulations enforcing responsible waste disposal systems; 1,455 did not meet the standards required; and 459 were closed during the review. Meanwhile, images of uninstalled sewage pipes, dirt trenches and impassable roads have been shared on social-media pages. News website Rappler even likened the island to a “war zone”.