Cruise ships now lined up for Boracay's re-opening
BORACAY ISLAND, AKLAN — Three months before Boracay Island reopens, some cruise ships are already lined up for visits.
Helen Catalbas, Regional Director of the Department of Tourism in Western Visayas (DOT-6), on Thursday said that about five to eight cruise ships are expected to visit starting from the island’s reopening on October 26 up to next year.
The Royal Caribbean Cruises, Star Cruises and Celebrity Cruises are among those that Catalbas mentioned during the interview. These cruise ships have carrying capacity of 1,700 up to 4,500 people, she said.
The visit of cruise ships to this island will be considered in the ongoing study being conducted to determine the island's carrying capacity, Catalbas said.
"All these things shall be taken into consideration by the group that is doing the carrying capacity study. We are to meet with them for interview and we are going to supply them with all the data on the cruise ships, number of rooms, tourist arrivals and number of tourism establishments on the island, everything that they need to know," she said.
However, Catalbas said during their Wednesday's meeting among stakeholders, a concern was raised in line with the coral reefs that may be destroyed due to the ship’s dropping its anchor.
Catalbas said that she already inquired from Jim Sampulna, Regional Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Western Visayas, about the concern.
"He (Sampulna) said that corals thrive in shallow waters, cruise ships are dropping anchor at the deeper side of the waters between Boracay and Caticlan. It’s not likely that (the) anchorage of cruise ships for a few hours could cause damage to corals," she quoted the DENR official.
Prior to the closure of this island, DOT-6 has been promoting cruise tourism here. Last January, four cruise ships visited the island, bringing in some 12,927 passengers and 6,353 crew members.
In February, three cruise ships docked in Boracay with 6,246 passengers and 3,168 crew members.