After about two months of media hype, the President of the Philippines has finally put a stamp on the much-awaited Boracay decision. According to his official spokesperson Atty. Harry Roque, the troubled island will undergo a full tourism closure for 6 months starting 26 April.

The shutdown confirmation was announced yesterday 4 April during the 24^th Cabinet meeting in the Presidential Palace. This comes as a surprise for some people who have been expecting some kind of compromise, like a phased, or a partial closure.

According to the Boracay Foundation, an estimate of 17,000 employees from the hospitality sector will be directly affected, including hotels, resorts, restaurants, and tourist activity centres. While another 19,000 in other businesses such as tattoo parlours, souvenir shops, transport providers and vendors by the beach, will be devastated by the tourism shutdown.

The closure and rehabilitation date will hit the peak season on the island, which was visited by over 2 million local and foreign tourists last year.

Many businesses will be affected by this temporary shutdown – from airlines to hotels, travel agencies, and local folks – but the National Economic & Development Authority (NEDA) said the proposed closure will have minimal impact on the country’s overall economy – only a 0.1% impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

What’s next for Boracay?

Boracay is one of the country’s top destinations and this decision was met with both positive and negative reactions.

As for me, I know this closure would be tough for anyone who’s working on the island. But I feel the benefits from this rehabilitation will come back twofold, or maybe even more. Afterall, an island with environmental woes won’t be too kind to its inhabitants.

According to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), it’s already planning to file administrative complaints against officials for neglecting the island.

“We’re already drafting the complaints, we’re looking at Friday (6 April) as the first review of the complaints that we’ll be drafting and the target is we’re going to file for the Office of the Ombudsman an administrative case on local officials before the 14 April deadline,” said DILG Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III.