The park’s group of seven rocky islets sits picturesquely on clear pristine water inside the Coron Gulf, near the coast of Maquinit, where Mazo has called home for his entire life. Together with the larger Coron Island in Palawan, Philippines, the area – with its natural karst rock formations and coral gardens – has grown in popularity for being an ecotourism destination in the past 20 years.
It is a far cry from what Mazo remembers of his hometown which was once a hotbed for illegal fishing activity. He recalled that muro-ami – or destructive reef fishing practices that involved pounding coral beds to scare fish into bag nets – had thrived in the bay then, alongside dynamite and cyanide fishing when he was still a young boy.
Instead, tourism has now become the backbone of the island’s economy, and is managed in a more sensitive way such that a community organisation under the marine park collects entrance and boat fees to keep visitorship to the 150-hectare bay controlled to about 100 daily, said Mazo. He told Eco-Business in Tagalog that most of the coastal town’s local fishermen have also since taken on part-time stints as park guides.
Nearly 40 per cent of Coron’s workforce is in the tourism and hospitality industry. Last year, the municipality, which has a population of nearly 66,000 people, welcomed about 341,500 visitors – a ratio of about five tourists for every resident.
“Because of the work we do, our respect towards the environment has increased. Much of our livelihood relies on the conservation of the island,” Mazo said. The marine park strictly enforces no-littering, no-fishing and no-anchoring rules.
Mazo is part of a growing community in the Philippines rooting for sustainable travel initiatives across the archipelago, particularly on less well-known islands that previously were hard to reach. For Mazo, direct flights or more convenient transport options to these destinations mean larger tourist numbers and greater spend; not only can this income help improve the livelihoods of local communities, it can go towards the funding of more meaningful projects.
For example, Coron Island – some 230 kilometres northeast of mainland Palawan – used to be at least a 13-hour ferry ride from the province’s capital Puerto Princesa. In 2008, with the inauguration of the Francisco B Reyes Airport in Busuanga Island which neighbours Coron, the journey has been cut to just a little over an hour by air from Metro Manila.
This month, budget airline Cebu Pacific starts daily direct flights between Coron and Clark, Pampanga, on top of its four flights between the island and Metro Manila.
Mazo said the post-pandemic revenue from entrance fees – which amounts to some P270,000 (US$4,600) monthly – due to the revival in visitor numbers and the tourism boost supported by better connectivity means that mangrove restoration projects in his hometown as well as even in neighbouring coastal towns can be funded. About 27 boats – used both for fishing and community tours – have also been bought from the collected fees since the marine park was set up. “It’s inspiring to see conservation projects that can benefit entire communities,” said Mazo.
Asia’s leading ‘beach country’
Enhanced air routes
Beyond Coron, the tourism push by the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr may soon see more of the archipelago’s scattered tourist destinations linked with more direct domestic and international flights – marking easier inter-island travel and direct associations to flight hubs outside the Philippines, especially within Asia.
These include island provinces in the Central Visayas region such as Cebu and Bohol, as well as Iloilo in the Western Visayas region, which surpassed its one-million mark in tourist arrivals last year, and where the provincial government has outlined plans to transform it into a green “forest province” while going big on its tourism plans.
According to data from the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Philippines welcomed some 5,949,350 international tourists last year and raked in P760.50 billion (US$13 billion) in tourism revenue – a 27 per cent hike from pre-pandemic 2019’s P600 billion (US$10.3 billion).
South Korean and American tourists accounted for a bulk of the arrivals while emerging markets Japan, Taiwan and Singapore showed strong growth momentum in the number of visitors to the Philippines.
To strengthen regional ties, DOT began 2025 by signing a tourism cooperation deal with Thailand, with similar agreements in the works for Cambodia and India. The Philippines’ tourism industry employs 6.21 million Filipinos and makes up 8.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Tourism secretary Christina Garcia Frasco has emphasised securing more direct international flights to popular island destinations to improve connectivity and ease congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila – currently the main gateway for travellers to the Philippines.
Recent expansions include Singapore low-cost airline Scoot resuming direct flights to Davao and Iloilo, and Cebu Pacific launching routes from Iloilo and Davao to Hong Kong and Bangkok. Puerto Princesa in Palawan is also being considered for direct flights to South Korea and Hong Kong.
The push aligns with the administration’s Build Better More programme, which aims to expand provincial airports and upgrade tourism infrastructure. A number of the country’s domestic airports including those in Bohol, Dumaguete, Laguindingan in Cagayan de Oro and Bicol, among others have been earmarked for public-private partnership (PPP) endeavours.
“[With] our ongoing efforts to enhance air routes and increase the number of available air seats – [to] ultimately drive more visitors to our beautiful destinations – it is imperative that we improve and modernise critical points of entry,” said Frasco during the recent signing of the PPP agreements.
Cautionary (and promising) tales
The optimism behind the renewed tourism push has persisted despite lingering reminders that, if not done right, the increase in traveller numbers could put undue strain on the resources and infrastructure of the underdeveloped islands. Tropical escapes like Aklan’s Boracay and Palawan’s El Nido had previously shown signs of buckling under the weight of overwhelming tourism flows.
The Palawan State of the Marine Environment report released this March highlighted harmful tourism practices and increased development as among the most significant threats to the pristine marine environment of the island province and the hardest drivers of habitat decline.
“There is a wide range of well-known tourism impacts in Palawan – such as those associated with boat activities, pollution, as well as human waste and wastewater,” Dr Billy Tusker Haworth of the University of Sydney and the report’s co-author told Eco-Business. “But there are also lesser-known environmental impacts [like] trampling (usually accidental) of coral reefs by tourists, as well as noise and light pollution from construction and development.”
The report is co-published by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and the Australian Government. Haworth noted that to address tourism impacts, there needs to be restrictions imposed on specific activities for the protection of critical species or areas.
But the report also highlighted the stewardship strategies of the Indigenous Tagbanua tribe in Palawan’s Calauit Island who have embraced ecotourism while championing the protection of endangered dugongs in the dive destination.
Community-led initiatives on the island put strict limits on daily tourist numbers with visitors required to adhere by mandatory pre-booked visiting times, alongside 15-minute dive time limits, and five-metre animal proximity limits. These are to minimise the stress to dugongs and interruptions to their normal routines. The measures have led to some recovery in dugong numbers.
Recently, the local government of Bohol declared a ban on all forms of tourist interactions with whale sharks amid a reported rise in unregulated operators and illegal whale shark feeding practices. The order was issued after an inter-agency investigation found that tour operators in the coastal towns of Lila, Alburquerque and Dauis were illicitly dumping large amounts of krill to lure the endangered whale sharks closer to shore and entice them to stay. This is in violation of a local ordinance banning the feeding of migratory marine mammals.
“There is an urgent need for more education about the environment and the potential impacts of [tourism] activities,” said Haworth.
“Education should include not only information on permitted or restricted activities or locations, but information on why those measures are necessary. People may be more likely to adhere to restrictions or other measures if they understand the reasoning for them.”
Lessons from Boracay
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) highlights ‘overtourism’ or ‘tourism congestion’ as a rising risk in popular destinations, as it not only affects the quality of experience of travellers but also deteriorates the quality of life of locals. Currently, 95 per cent of the world’s tourists are concentrated on less than 5 per cent of the world’s land mass, according to UNWTO.
In its Managing Overtourism report, the UN agency outlined the need to implement strict carrying capacity limits on tourism sites and destinations as a sustainable science-based solution. Carrying capacity is defined as the maximum number of people that may visit a destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic and sociocultural environment of a site.
Boracay Island – once labelled a ‘cesspool’ by the Philippines’ former president Rodrigo Duterte – is an important cautionary tale. In 2018, the Philippine resort island was closed by the government for six months to allow “rehabilitation” and reopened with a cap on visitors. It still struggles with problems such as inadequate garbage management, sanitation issues and rolling blackouts; at the same time, local vendors are upset that the decline in tourist numbers is hurting their livelihoods.
Post-pandemic, the island has struggled to bounce back. It welcomed about 2.08 million tourists in 2024, a dip from 2023’s 2.12 million.
Edith Ambay, a souvenir vendor who hawks her wares on Boracay Island’s Puka Beach – the less crowded stretch of white sand seaside on the northern tip of the island destination – told Eco-Business that “times are difficult and money is tight”. “Most days I only make P500 (US$8) and it is hard to stretch it to put food on the table as everything is expensive on the island,” she said.
Ambay is a resident of Barangay Yapak – where growing up she has seen small Indigenous settlements pushed out of their homes to make way for luxury resorts. Her husband is a boatman who rents out his kayak to tourists.
For now, multinational conglomerate and developer San Miguel Corporation is pushing for the construction of a bridge to connect Boracay to the mainland, as well as to ease some of the island’s waste and water security issues. However, critics have pointed out that the structure will likely exacerbate the island destination’s carrying capacity issues.
Solar push
Boracay’s infrastructure inadequacies have prompted local governments and experts to broaden their plans to ensure genuine sustainable tourism beyond visitor number caps. Bohol, which lies southeast of Cebu Island, for instance, is turning to renewable energy to meet new demands.
The province – recognised as the Philippines’ first UNESCO Global Geopark – experienced a 313 per cent surge in tourist arrivals in 2023. The government said it has invested in large-scale clean energy projects such as the Dagohoy Solar Power Project (DSPP) – Bohol’s first large-scale solar farm – to support this growth while minimising environmental impact.
The facility generates 41,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity annually – enough to power 18,000 homes. Photovoltaics firm Trinasolar claims the project has the potential to reduce the province’s carbon emissions by 28,642 metric tonnes per year.
“Bohol’s move toward solar energy supports the preservation of its natural wonders by reducing the dependency on fossil fuels, ensuring that the region’s unique biodiversity and ecosystems are protected,” Elva Wang, Trinasolar Asia Pacific group director for Southeast, South and Central Asia, told Eco-Business.
“With cleaner air and fewer pollutants, Bohol’s natural wonders can be preserved for both its residents and future generations of tourists,” she added. Wang believes this solar push can be integrated into the tourism infrastructure of the Philippines’ other island destinations.
A revamped airport that will operate from June and serve flights to Manila, Clark, Iloilo, Davao, El Nido, as well as South Korea’s Incheon and Busan airports, is dubbed the Philippines’ first “eco-airport” as it has incorporated energy efficiency measures and also relies on solar power generation.
Sustainability educator and entrepreneur Rafael Dionisio wants the Philippines’ tourism sector to be more “regenerative” and not one that exploits the natural environment.
This would mean designing tour programmes so that they look at initiatives such as soil rebuilding, tree planting and protection, mangrove enhancement as well as the cleaning of water bodies, he suggested. The co-founder of a sustainable tourism start-up said: “There are more examples, but the bottom line is the initiatives should be defined by positive action.”
Dionisio’s start-up offers immersive education tours and workshops, such as foraging hikes through the Tingtingin River to El Kabayo Waterfalls in Bataan’s Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Members of the Indigenous Aeta community are tour guides for the trip. He said there is a clear shift in what travellers want out of the tourism experience, and they can help “define the market”.
According to a recent report by the World Economic Fund and consulting firm Kearney, 86 per cent of survey respondents between ages 25 and 34 favour eco-friendly options during their travel.
Financial sustainability?
According to UNWTO’s tourism barometer, Asia and the Pacific has recovered 87 per cent of its pre-pandemic arrivals with the sector seen on the upswing. Transport-related emissions from tourism are expected to account for 5.3 per cent of all man-made carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 with some 1.8 billion tourists crossing borders.
In Coron, surveys conducted under DOT’s Sustainable Tourism Development Project highlighted that the increase in visitor numbers have begun to impact the island’s ecological resources. One survey documented extensive coral reef and sea grass damage from boat groundings, boat anchors and divers trampling on corals in at least 12 reef sites.
Siete Pecados Marine Park is the sole snorkelling site where daily peak tourist visitors have not overshot its carrying capacity, partly due to the community caretakers’ strict enforcement and monitoring strategies.
Yet it is also hard to find the perfect business model to sustain financial viability. Tour operators need to move to “higher yielding” models that depend on fewer tourists to sustain in the long run, suggested experts, but getting the equation right is challenging.
Park ranger Mazo, who also leads a network of locally-managed marine protected areas in Palawan’s Calamianes Group of Islands, highlights how the United States’ recent freeze of projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has brought about uncertainties.
Prior to US President Donald Trump re-entering the White House, Siete Pecados Marine Park and Coron Island were beneficiaries to a number of the development agency’s programmes – including the Fish Right initiative which worker with coastal communities to tackle marine biodiversity threats. With the USAID cuts, these programmes would be shuttered if local funders cannot be found.
“The network’s goal now is to foster more self-sustaining community-led organisations and marine park projects that can support themselves financially as we tide the headwinds,” said Mazo.
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