Philippine Government Closes Boracay Island For Six Months Starting Today (April 26)
The Philippine government has temporarily closed the world-famous Boracay Island to the tourists for six months.
On Thursday (April 26, 2018), the country’s top tourist spot Boracay Island has been close to tourists as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Mr. Duterte has ordered the island’s temporary closure to allow the government to rehabilitate and restore the “cesspool” island because its waters were already polluted.
The local government, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Philippine National Police (PNP) issued a clearance prohibiting visitors to the island except for emergency situations.
The livelihood of about thousands of residents and workers on the island were directly affected by the temporary closure.
However, the government has also promised to provide assistance for over 30, 000 displaced workers.
The local officials said that a P2 billion calamity fund was allocated for the affected workers.
The Philippines will allegedly lose about P1.96 billion in revenues with its six-month closure for rehabilitation.
Economic Chief Ernesto Pernia said that Boracay’s closure prompted the government to make effort in boosting country’s tourism.
“We are going to be motivated to work harder especially departments like, the Department of Tourism should really step up its effort to attract more tourists in the country to other destinations, as well you know as advertise these other destinations which are not well-known yet to tourists coming from other countries,” Pernia said quoted by CNN.
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