It’s not uncommon that a tourist attraction might shut down for renovation. But have you ever heard of the government shutting down an entire island to tourists? Well, this is exactly what happened in the Philippines earlier this year when the Filipino government shut down Boracay Island, one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, due to environmental damage. Is it fair to blame tourists for the environmental damage done to the island? Maybe not. Can we understand why locals might want to blame tourists? Sure.
As if potentially destroying the environment weren’t enough to turn Filipino locals against tourists, foreigners visiting the Philippines are often associated with sex tourism. In what is one of the more extreme cases of sex tourism to hit this country, an American man was recently sentenced to 330 years in jail for having sex with Filipina girls as young as 7 years old. Are Filipinos super suspicious of foreign men touring the Philippines? Maybe. Can we understand why they might not be the biggest fans of them? Absolutely.
Issues such as these are never straightforward. On top of negatively impacting foreigners who had plans to visit Boracay, the move to shut down the island also has serious impact on people who live and work there. And it’s an uncomfortable fact that locals are sometimes the organizers behind sex tourism.
Clearly, there is a lot to unpack here. So we did what anyone wanting to dive deeper into this issue would do. We hit the streets of Manila to ask average Filipino people what they think of foreign tourists. As always, we did our best to capture a wide range of opinions. So, check out this video with an open mind, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
