Editorial: Ecotourism sites take a rest

LAST year the government closed Boracay, one the country's famous tourism sites, for six months from tourists in an effort to rehabilitate the island.

At present, rehabilitation is ongoing in Boracay and the government has set in place rules to further protect the island in the coming years.

We can only hope that in the long run, these efforts will result to positive effects for Boracay.

Anyway, it seems like other local government units are taking efforts to ensure that their ecotourism sites are protected and will be able to take a rest.

The Siargao Mangrove Protection and Information Center has announced last January 1, 2019 in its Facebook Page that the Sugba Lagoon will be implementing its annual environmental recovery and rehabilitation.

In South Cotabato, T'Boli Mayor Dibu S. Tuan issued Executive Order 01-2019 ordering the two-month closure of Lake Holon from local and foreign visitors. The closure will be today, January 7, 2019 to an unspecified date in March but will be before the commencement of Seslong Festival.

The municipal government will be conducting training and refresher course to frontline personnel, rehabilitation, and biodiversity assessment of Lake Holon during the site's closure.

Closures like these, whether it will be a month or so can be beneficial to tourist sites. In a way, it will allow the sites to take a rest from the pressures from tourists.

Other local government units might also want to follow suit by implementing their own annual environmental recovery and rehabilitation program. Not only will this ensure that the ecotourism site is preserved or conserved for future generations to enjoy but it will also ensure employment and jobs for the locals too.

For a long time, we have taken for granted our ecotourism sites. It is great to know that slowly, local government units are making an effort to preserve these sites. We hope more will follow.