Covid 19 and its Rippled Effects in Boracay

Boracay, island of paradise. Your dream destination, pristine white sand, breathtaking sunsets, turquoise waters, swaying palm trees; bustling with tourists foreign and local.

These are the images you conjure when you think of Boracay. Sadly at present there are only the locals left in the island enjoying the picture perfect beaches of Boracay.

With the onset of the Covid 19. The effect of it began with flights from China, Hong Kong and Korea being disallowed. The booming business that should have been in Boracay was looking bleak. Yet people were still being hopeful that this will soon go away.

All things took a down turn when it was discovered that the there were more than the 3 people recorded that is afflicted with the Covid 19 virus in the Philippines.

The Philippine President. President Duterte acted swiftly and accordingly. He cancelled his intended trip to Boracay and announced during his State of the Nation address that a community quarantine will be enacted on Sunday, March 15 till Tuesday, April 14 2020 in an attempt to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines.

With Metro Manila on lockdown this affected tourism in Boracay as well as the other parts of the country.

International flights were being canceled. Local flights were being grounded in and out of Metro Manila, land and sea travel were also being restricted. People started to get alarmed. It made it difficult for incoming tourists to get to Boracay. People started to scramble and head home. With this though it may have hasten the spread of the virus to other places.

In an effort to contain the virus Covid 19 the Provincial Governor of Aklan, Governor Miraflores released an Executive Order No. 019 that imposes a 30-day community quarantine in the whole province of Aklan. With the Covid 19 virus that knows no boundaries was gearing up afflicting several more people across the country. This was a sound decision to keep the Covid 19 virus from spreading.

However what does that mean though for the businesses in Boracay? With the international flights in Metro Manila being unavailable most of the tourist currently in the island were in a dizzy. The fortunate ones scrambled to get into a flight to Clark International Airport in Pampanga and managed to book an international flight home.

But soon after on the 18th of March all flights were grounded. The few who were unable to get out were stuck and opted to extend their holiday. Boracay
after all isn’t a bad place to spend the quarantine.

But with no new tourists coming in – the inevitable happened. Businesses had to reduce workforce or close down. With the looming uncertainty, slowly, one by one businesses were closing and people were jobless. People started to worry about food and the incessant expenses for day to day living. The ones with spare cash had stocked up on food and bare necessities and have prepared for the worst.

Those that could go home went home and the rest were stuck – Bracing themselves to ride this challenge brought about by the Covid 19 and hopefully, escape it unscathed.

Whats next after this is a tale to tell another day.