This El Nido destination kicked off summer with music and strong message on environment

EL NIDO, Palawan, Philippines — Sitting on a wealth of biodiversity, Lio Tourism Estate in El Nido, Palawan welcomed the summer season with its third annual Lio Beach Festival — proving that music could be a perfect vehicle to bring care for the environment to center stage.

Early this year, researchers at the University of British Columbia warned that failure to meet a global goal of curbing climate change could decimate fish supplies, threatening food security and people’s livelihood.

From March 21-24, the country’s first sustainable tourism estate destination developed by Ayala Land lined up activities that sought to create awareness on global warming and climate change among holidaymakers.

Lio Tourism Estate has a beach stretching 4.2 km, making it a home to several endemic wildlife in Palawan. In 2018, 600 individuals underwent Lio’s Be GREEN program, which aims to educate people on fostering sustainability and inclusive growth without harming the environment.

At Lio Beach Fest, guests were given a tour of some of El Nido’s majestic mangrove and waterfalls and were invited to attend art workshops, as it has always been since the festival was created in 2017. But this year’s event sought to highlight the environment even more by introducing sustainability talks.

Guests also got to shop at a weekend market that featured organic products from various eco-brands in Palawan and other parts of the Philippines.

To cap off the third day of the event, Palawan and Manila-based performers headlined the Lio Beach Fest, where lights in the 325-hectare integrated resort were turned off for an hour to celebrate the Earth Hour. OPM artists that performed during the beach fest were This Band, Mojofly, Cheats, Kawangis ng Tribu, and El Nido's Mike & Lyka.