On April 26, 2018, the Philippine resort island of Boracay, one of the country's major tourist destinations, was temporarily closed to the general public as part of the Philippine government's efforts to rehabilitate and redevelop the island. As part of the closure, Boracay was closed for six months except to its registered residents and employees. The closure had a significant effect on the livelihood of local people. In 2022, the Philippine government declared that the closure was successful in rehabilitating the island's environment.
Background
Boracay is a popular tourist island and the infrastructure needed to accommodate tourism was put in place at a fast pace. This caused environmental problems. Condé Nast Traveler magazine called Boracay "the poster child for overtourism". In particular, many businesses were discharging untreated sewer waste into the sea. The magazine quoted a tour operator who said the environmental problems on the island are '"the worst example of how to destroy a beautiful island"'. The amount of rubbish generated per person was said to be more than three times that in Manila.
In a business forum held on February 9, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte called the island of Boracay a "cesspool" and announced plans to close the island to tourists and conduct a rehabilitation on the island in June 2018 to resolve the worsening sewage conditions there. Duterte directed Environment secretary Roy Cimatu to resolve the environmental issues in the island. Boracay is part of the jurisdiction of the town of Malay of Aklan province. Three of Malay's barangays are in Boracay.
According to the Western Visayas regional office of the Department of Tourism, Boracay had two million tourists in 2017 which accounts for 34 percent of Western Visayas' 5.8 million tourist arrivals. At least 19,031 are employed to work on the island.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, together with the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna, had earlier commissioned a study to compute Boracay's "real carrying capacity". The study took into account Boracay land area, hours spent on activities on the island and other environmental factors. According to the study, Boracay can accommodate a total of 54,945 people at a time, broken down into 19,215 tourists and 35,730 residents, which includes 22,395 stay-in workers. However, Boracay's existing population of more than 70,700 had already exceeded the carrying capacity by almost 30%. Given the excess one-third capacity, the DENR is looking to relocate some 6,000 workers to the mainland Malay town in Aklan. DENR is also exploring the option of having hotels and establishments subsidize the living and transport expenses or to house their own workers. Other alternatives includes the provision of a new port for workers and permanent residents to avoid congestion in the existing one, which will be ring-fenced for tourist use.
Waters along the beaches of Boracay have experienced algal bloom which environmentalists and some long-time residents claim to be an indicator of pollution and deteriorating water conditions. The Malay municipal government, some business operators, and some residents say that the algal bloom is a natural seasonal phenomenon that usually occurs annually in the summer, and occurred on Boracay even before the island became developed.
Boracay Island Water Co. operates the sewage network of Boracay which accommodates only 61 percent of the island. In 2018, 195 businesses, and almost four thousand households, were not connected to the sewers. The island has two central sewerage treatment plants with a total capacity of 11.5 million liters/day, one in Barangay Balabag and another in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, and plans the construction of a third plant in Barangay Yapak with a capacity of 5 million litres/day. The company has also carried out some work to ensure the facilities can be used fully; before this, only 58% of capacity was used.