red flags from our new tourism secretary
11 Jul 10
(Image from pinoyvote.net)
Our new Tourism Secretary is Alberto Lim. Didn’t know much about him until I read his irresponsible statements to AFP about Boracay! Oh no! We have someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about at the helm of DOT. Ace Durano, please come back!!!
Yes, Boracay’s been under threat of overdevelopment for a long time, and yes, it is nearing tipping point, but as the new head honcho for marketing our country, you just don’t don’t don’t go about saying things like, “The thing about Boracay is the quality of the sand, (it is) very white. But there are other places that have better quality sand, but (they are) very expensive,” and then adopting a position of resignation:
Lim suggested the government may in the end be unable to halt overdevelopment.
“We have world-class laws but nobody follows them,” he said, adding tourists may just have to look elsewhere.
Boracay is one of the most celebrated places the Philippines is known for, and to talk about it this way betrays not only a lack of love for it, but a lack of understanding of its real value!
There have been cases of overdevelopment elsewhere (e.g. Balearic Islands), but given concerted effort from stakeholders, with government at the helm, they were able to turn things around for the better.
Secretary Lim, Boracay is not dead, it’s certainly not dead YET, but with such a defeatist, dismissive attitude as this, then you might as well have asked for its death.
If Philippine Tourism is stuck with this kind of mindset for another 6 years, then we are definitely dead.
