CEBU CITY—As the six-month closure of the country’s top tourists’ drawer, Boracay Island, loomed, the tourism department is scrambling for alternative tourism sites that would prevent tourists from taking a detour to other tourism sites in Southeast Asia. Shalimar Tamano, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Central Visayas, said regional tourism offices across the country were drawing up promotion plans on alternative tourism sites to stop tourists from leaving. Describing the country’s premier tourism destination as a cesspool, President Duterte ordered Boracay closed to tourism for at least six months to allow the rehabilitation of the 1,032-hectare island. The Samar provincial government launched its “Spark Samar” tourism campaign in Manila to showcase tourist destinations in the province like Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park in Basey town. The Northern Samar provincial government presented rock formations on Biri Island and the pink beach of San Vicente town as tourism destinations.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer April 13, 2018 21:11 UTC