Showing posts with label Evaluation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evaluation. Show all posts

Monday 9 April 2018

#Philippines to close Boracay resort to tourists for six months


The Philippines has announced its best-known holiday island Boracay will be closed to tourists for six months over concerns that the once idyllic white-sand resort has become a "cesspool" tainted by dumped sewage.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown to start April 26, his spokesman Harry Roque said late Wednesday on Twitter, without providing further detail.

The decision raises questions about the livelihoods of thousands employed as part of a bustling tourist trade that serves some two million guests on the island each year.

Boracay has some 500 tourism-related businesses, which had a combined annual revenue of 56 billion pesos ($1.07 billion) last year.
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However in February Duterte blasted the tiny island's hotels, restaurants and other businesses, accusing them of dumping sewage directly into the sea and turning it into a "cesspool".

Officials have warned the island's drainage system is being used to send the untreated sewage into its surrounding turquoise waters.

The environment ministry says 195 businesses, along with more than 4,000 residential customers, are not connected to sewer lines.

 In February the government said a total of 300 businesses faced "evaluation" for sanitary or other offences on the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) island, of which 51 had already been handed official warnings for violating environmental regulations.
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 https://12go.asia/?z=581915
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Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones told AFP last month a closure would involve having airlines and ferries suspend their Boracay services and making the beaches off-limits, and stationing police there "if necessary"
"An iron fist is needed to bring it back to its previous condition. It will be a temporary thing," Leones said.

The Boracay Foundation Inc., a business industry association on the island, had asked the government to shut down only those violating environmental laws.

"It's unfair for compliant establishments to be affected by the closure," Executive Director Pia Miraflores told AFP.

Miraflores said that even before the ban was announced, its shadow had hit some businesses hard in Boracay.

"The tour guides have already complained that they have no more guests. There's already a huge effect," she said, adding the quays and jetties were "less crowded" than before.

Some couples who scheduled their weddings on the island up to a year or two in advance had cancelled their reservations even before the ban was announced, she said, with the tour agents also besieged with client calls on whether to pursue their planned trips. 

With more than 500 hotels, Boracay employs 17,000 people, apart from 11,000 construction workers working on new projects.

Source - TheJakartaPost

Thursday 15 June 2017

#Bali boasts creativity, culture as economy backbone

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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said during a limited evaluation meeting on national strategic projects (PSN) and priority programs in Bali on Wednesday that he wanted to maintain the growth of foreign tourists coming to the famous resort island.

Jokowi described Bali as unique in that its economy is not based on natural resources, but rather the tourism sector and creative industry, which rely on creativity and culture.

 
“With culture and creativity, Bali province has presented a positive image for Indonesia to the entire world, which is why foreign tourists know more about Bali than Indonesia,” Jokowi said.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya called Bali the tourism icon of Indonesia, just like Thailand is the tourism icon of Southeast Asia.
“It’s true what President Jokowi said, Bali is not affected by natural resource commodities such as oil and gas, coal and CPO [Crude Palm Oil]; Bali’s economy is purely driven by tourism and the creative economy,” Arief said.
 
Source - TheJakartaPost