After approving the six-month closure of Boracay beginning April 26, President Rodrigo Duterte has broached the idea of holding a side event of the prestigious Miss Universe competition in the island resort.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said during the April 4 Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, a Cabinet official acknowledged that it would be difficult to promote Boracay—the country’s top tourist draw which the President now describes as a “cesspool”—after its temporary closure.
“There was one Cabinet Secretary asking: ‘Will you be able to promote Boracay once you close it? It will be difficult to do that once we close it.’ I said Boracay is Boracay. We don’t need to promote it,” Teo said.
Duterte, said Teo, said: “If you want, we can hold the Miss Universe in Boracay. We can bring the Miss Universe there so that everyone will go to Boracay again when we open it.”
Teo said discussions with the Miss Universe Organization are ongoing to hold the pageant in the Philippines anew, with the swimsuit competition to be held in the island resort.
“Nothing’s definite yet, but I’m working on Miss Universe. I want the Miss Universe to be here. We’re working on it if not this year, next year,” the Tourism chief added.
The world-class island resort of Boracay will be closed starting April 26.
Duterte said he plans to put the entire island under a state of calamity to release some P2 billion in contingency funds to help the thousands of workers and residents who will be affected by its closure.
Western Visayas is expected to lose a third of its earnings from tourism with the temporary closure.
Data from the Tourism department showed that of the 5,852,937 tourists who visited Western Visayas in 2017, at least 2,220,821 were from Aklan.
Boracay contributed 34 percent or 2,001,974 tourists and earned P56.15 billion in tourism receipts.