ANTIQUE — Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez is optimistic that tourists will come back in Boracay after the cleanup and rehabilitation exercise.
“Boracay will be like Phoenix, it will rise from the ashes,” Lopez said during a media interview here Friday.
Lopez, now the founder and chairman of the ILOVE (Investments in Loving Organizations for Village Economies) Foundation, came here to launch her Quest for LOVE Program.
Lopez said that Boracay’s closure is just temporary, but much needed with the given situation now. “We can’t continue killing the goose that lays the golden egg,” Lopez said.
She said Boracay island brings many benefits to the people and to the tourism stakeholders and thus need to be taken care of.
She added that after the six-month closure of Boracay starting on April 26, there would be many tourists and investors who would be lured again into the island.
“We can’t do business by killing the environment,” Lopez added.
After Boracay, tourism destinations in other parts of the country like the ones in Cebu are initiating their own cleanup initiatives.
The Cebu Provincial Government has urged local government units with tourists attractions to ensure a sustainable cleanup drive. (with reports from PNA)
