DOT: Boracay Holy Week tourist cap breached as over 20,000 visit island Thursday, Friday

The Department of Tourism (DOT) on Monday said it was relying on authorities to address the alleged breach in Boracay Island's carrying capacity after more than 20,000 tourists visited the destination on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

The DOT said it had notified the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the issue and urged them to take appropriate measures to prevent such incidents from occurring again.

“We continue our coordination with them, especially the DILG, which has jurisdiction over the LGU (local government unit), to address this concern and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future,” the Tourism Department told GMA News Online.

Based on the Malay Tourism Office's report to the DOT, the number of tourists on the island hit 21, 252 on April 14 and 22,519 on April 15 — far beyond the recommended daily threshold of around 19,000.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that apart from informing the concerned agencies, they had also reached out to the local government of Malay to explain the breach.

“This is a concern, ‘yung carrying capacity, it was done para ‘di ba walang over-tourism. That was pre-pandemic. Now, it’s more of a concern kasi mayroon tayong COVID,” she said in Lei Alviz’ report on “24 Oras”.

(We are now waiting for the report of the mayor on why it was breached. The carrying capacity was a concern. It was done to prevent over-tourism. That was pre-pandemic. Now, it’s more of a concern because of Covid.)

While the DOT had anticipated the influx of tourists due to “revenge tourism”, the Department of Health (DOH) said it had noted that several individuals had failed to observe minimum public health standards.

Puyat said her agency coordinated with the DILG to address this as well.

“Hindi natin inaalis sa ating mga kababayan, ito talagang pagkasabik dito sa mga parties, sa pagbabakasyon ng ating pamilya,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

(We are not discouraging our fellow Filipinos to hold parties and take vacations because we are aware of their excitement.)

“We should always remember nandito pa rin ‘yung virus. Nandiyan pa rin ‘yung mataas na probability, ‘yung risk para tumaas uli ang kaso sa ating bansa,” she said.

(We should always remember that the virus is still here. The probability, the risk for infections to surge is still high.)

The World Health Organization echoed the DOH’s warning and reminded the public to continue adhering to minimum public health protocols.

It also urged the government to boost vaccination efforts in areas where the immunization rate remained under 70 percent.

“If we relax our guards, it’s possible to get to those numbers because, in South Korea, which has half of the population of the Philippines, they already test 600,000 cases. That’s huge,” DR. Rajendra Yadav, WHO representative to the Philippines, said. — DVM, GMA News