Gov’t eyes Boracay dev’t anew

Despite the absence of five-star hotels and direct flights, Boracay island is the top tourist destination in the Philippines.

Tourists have been flocking to the tropical beach paradise for its powdery white sand, turquoise blue waters and picture-perfect sunsets.

In an attempt to exploit its full potential, the cash-strapped Philippine government wants to boost transport links to the palm-studded island and is offering tax incentives to investors to set up luxurious accommodations and amenities for tourists.

"Boracay is acclaimed to be among the top 10 beaches in the world and there are many tourists coming here," Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon told Agence France Presse.

"What we have now are largely homely-type resorts and obviously there is a demand for five-star facilities," he said. "We also need to improve transport links."

But local residents and green groups have urged caution.

Moves to set up a casino on the island have already been shot down by the Church in the predominantly Christian country.

Nearly half the island has been covered by a sewage-disposal system while piped water was launched about a year ago, but garbage disposal remains a nagging problem, residents say.

The island’s smaller, long-time resort owners hope efforts to develop Boracay will not have adverse effects on the environment.

"When I set foot here 23 years ago, the sand was very white and there were turtles," recalled Frenchman Roger deParis, owner of a 10-room resort along White Beach.

"Today, the turtles don’t seem to be around and the sand is not as white as before," he said. "We have to be careful, development should not be too fast that it will kill Boracay."

Gordon said the environment would not be compromised as the government stepped up development on Boracay by offering tax incentives to investors.

There are at present about 200 private resorts on the tiny island in central Philippines but only five are of the posh "AAA" standard, and not up to the five-star hotel class yet.

Situated 345 kilometers south of Manila, Boracay has more than 30 beaches with sugary white sand and pristine waters.

The best part of the island is the four-kilometer (2.5-mile) sun-kissed strip of shoreline called "White Beach," which Gordon boasts is "Asia’s best."

The island’s rich marine life is also highly visible against the pure, white sand, making it a popular diving and snorkeling center.

Up to 330,000 tourists visited Boracay in 2003, higher than the 300,000 recorded the previous year, despite security fears amid the terrorism threat in the Philippines and elsewhere in the region, officials said.

The 1,038-hectare island is too small to house an airstrip, forcing tourists going to Boracay from the Philippine capital Manila to make a round-about trip lasting up to nearly three hours.

Gordon said Caticlan and Kalibo airports on nearby Panay island, to which no international airlines fly at present, would be upgraded within the next year to take larger planes.

"The initial target is to get international flights direct to Kalibo instead of stopping over for transfers in Manila," said Tim Ticar, a tourism department officer based on the island.

The largest number of foreign tourists to Boracay are South Koreans, followed by Europeans and Americans, he said. Filipinos make up half the tourists to the island getaway.

Foreign tourists spent an average six nights while local visitors took advantage of the two-to-three night packages, said Greg Hutchinson, owner of Sandcastles resort which offers watersports and other adventure tours. — AFP