BACKGROUNDER: How Boracay shifted from agriculture to tourism

The island of Boracay was mainly an agricultural community before it became a tourist destination, according to a 1998 study titled “Governance in Context: Boracay Island, Philippines” by William Trousdale of EcoPlan International.

Locals then depended on copra and fish for their source of income. But local fishing eventually suffered due to overharvesting and degradation of coral reef, while the price of copra significantly dropped.

The loss of income and livelihood opportunities for the residents paved the way for the transformation of Boracay into a tourist destination in the late 1970s.

“From its inception, the primary factor motivating tourism development in Boracay has been economic: profits, jobs, income and government revenue,” Trousdale said in the study.

In a 1996 study, “Sun, Sea, Sand and Sewage: A Wastewater Management Plan for Boracay Island, The Philippines,” marine biologist Pierre Pillout noted that Boracay had no industry or agriculture that could have caused algal blooms along the island’s shoreline.

Pillout said that ammonia, nitrate and phosphate, which caused the spread of algae in Boracay, came from industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes.

But since Boracay had no industry or agriculture to speak of then, Pillout concluded algal blooms in Boracay could be caused only by sewage from septic tanks.