Lynch May H. Ulsano
Palawan State University
Puerto Princesa City
Looking at the City’s Current Situation
Recent media reports state that the inclusion of Puerto Princesa’s Underground River as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature has increased the arrival of tourists from 160,000 in 2007, to 514,000 last year. Mayor Edward Hagedorn said that it would likely hit 625,000 this year and 1.2 Million a year by 2016. From only four flights daily, the city’s small airport, now has to accommodate twenty flights daily.
Hagedorn attributed this not only to its jewel, the underground river but but also to other places of entertainment being developed in the city.
“Dati wala kaming zip line, ngayon ang dami na. Dati hindi masyadong popular and trekking, ngayon popular na,” Hagedorn said, adding that the city now has floating restaurants, and shark and dolphin watching facilities, among others.
He said that while not all of the 514,000 visitors recorded in 2011 actually went to see the underground river, around 60 percent to 70 percent did.
With the sudden influx of tourists is the question and challenges of sustainability. Tourists are now every where. One out of every three vehicles on city streets is a van packed with tourists, crawling behind tricycles buzzing around like flies.
To accommodate them resulted with the construction of new tourist facilities which are going on simultaneously all over the city. Dust has no time to settle. Rapid change is everywhere; the city is aggressively in expansion mode. I fear that time will come that I could no longer recognize it.
Already evident are the traffic, urban congestion and visual chaos that follow the rush to build up a city known to be the greenest in the country.
Puerto Princesa nowadays has that boomtown feel. The city is changing right before your eyes, and in a year or so it will be practically unrecognizable.
Borrowing from my reference, the Puerto Princesa that I know way back in my elementary days and a few of my high school days as they say and I could compare based on what I can see on TV and movies is a unique city. It is city with a rural identity because it is green unlike others. Fully grown trees shaded its broad main avenues, a perfect green foil to the low-rise structures along the streets.
Now, those endangered avenues are harder to find now. New development is homogenizing the look of the city, soon to look like all other newly developed areas in any other Philippine city where one-strip mall after another lines streets with no sidewalks and no trees.
I fear that current changes have also affected the life style and norms of the common folks. With this is the fear that the introduction of mall culture might endanger the simple life style and morality that Palawan people are known for and that with this, because of materialism, the environment is highly at risk particularly the southern part even the northern part even when the law is strictly being implemented.
How will they go against the temptation of wanting more? Of over stretching their budget just to buy this and buy that? Or, so that their will be more money to finance unnecessary wants, to look for other sources commonly against righteousness.
Recommendations
Strict planning and zoning should be instituted and implemented to preserve Puerto Princesa’s identity that sets it apart from any other place in the country and that makes the city a tourist attraction.
It should maintain what is it known for, the green city and the province on its part, worthy of being called, the last frontier.
Aside from allowing maximum development to happen in a regulated manner to prevent overdevelopment, zoning and planning measures control traffic, pollution; and while allowing the city to grow, control measures maintain growth at sustainable levels.
Determining and maintaining sustainable levels to effectively manage tourism growth are essential to keep alive the goose that lays Puerto Princesa’s golden eggs. The goal is to sustain rather than deplete tourism resources.
The question of the human impact particularly on the underground river should also be studied and of primordial concern.
How does the increased carbon dioxide from human exhalation impact on the ecosystem balance within the cave? There were reports that the number of bats living in the cave have decreased, an indication of a change in the ecosystem balance within the cave.
Humans introduce lint that flies around, attaches to the cave walls, and impedes the natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites. Think of how much lint an average of 45,000 humans who enter the cave per month can give off. How do the rock formations combat lint?
Being inscribed on the World Heritage List requires managing and maintaining the natural equilibrium of the park, assuring its sustainability and its future, while allowing tourists and visitors to enjoy its natural beauty.
A Management plan to protect and guide all impacts in the entire Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park is what the city is committed to. And it should insure by all its might and of the law that it is strictly implemented without pause.
The tourist buzz is expected to bring more benefits to the Puerto Princesa community, and it should.
However, unless sustainability guides the tourist boom, in the end the benefits could turn out to be not only short-lived, but also harmful to the city’s tourism assets, providing only temporary relief for the community.
Tourism is normally double-edged: beneficial when well-managed, and disastrous when tourism assets are exploited.
If not hatched sustainably, those golden eggs may turn out not be golden in the long run.
References:
Elona Jamie Marie, Tourist arrivals in Puerto Princesa likely to hit 700,000, INQUIRER.net
5:16 pm | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
Villalon Augusto F., Augusto F., Is Puerto Princesa’s tourism boom sustainable? Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:08 am | Monday, March 12th, 2012
Palawan State University
Puerto Princesa City
Looking at the City’s Current Situation
Recent media reports state that the inclusion of Puerto Princesa’s Underground River as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature has increased the arrival of tourists from 160,000 in 2007, to 514,000 last year. Mayor Edward Hagedorn said that it would likely hit 625,000 this year and 1.2 Million a year by 2016. From only four flights daily, the city’s small airport, now has to accommodate twenty flights daily.
Hagedorn attributed this not only to its jewel, the underground river but but also to other places of entertainment being developed in the city.
“Dati wala kaming zip line, ngayon ang dami na. Dati hindi masyadong popular and trekking, ngayon popular na,” Hagedorn said, adding that the city now has floating restaurants, and shark and dolphin watching facilities, among others.
He said that while not all of the 514,000 visitors recorded in 2011 actually went to see the underground river, around 60 percent to 70 percent did.
With the sudden influx of tourists is the question and challenges of sustainability. Tourists are now every where. One out of every three vehicles on city streets is a van packed with tourists, crawling behind tricycles buzzing around like flies.
To accommodate them resulted with the construction of new tourist facilities which are going on simultaneously all over the city. Dust has no time to settle. Rapid change is everywhere; the city is aggressively in expansion mode. I fear that time will come that I could no longer recognize it.
Already evident are the traffic, urban congestion and visual chaos that follow the rush to build up a city known to be the greenest in the country.
Puerto Princesa nowadays has that boomtown feel. The city is changing right before your eyes, and in a year or so it will be practically unrecognizable.
Borrowing from my reference, the Puerto Princesa that I know way back in my elementary days and a few of my high school days as they say and I could compare based on what I can see on TV and movies is a unique city. It is city with a rural identity because it is green unlike others. Fully grown trees shaded its broad main avenues, a perfect green foil to the low-rise structures along the streets.
Now, those endangered avenues are harder to find now. New development is homogenizing the look of the city, soon to look like all other newly developed areas in any other Philippine city where one-strip mall after another lines streets with no sidewalks and no trees.
I fear that current changes have also affected the life style and norms of the common folks. With this is the fear that the introduction of mall culture might endanger the simple life style and morality that Palawan people are known for and that with this, because of materialism, the environment is highly at risk particularly the southern part even the northern part even when the law is strictly being implemented.
How will they go against the temptation of wanting more? Of over stretching their budget just to buy this and buy that? Or, so that their will be more money to finance unnecessary wants, to look for other sources commonly against righteousness.
Recommendations
Strict planning and zoning should be instituted and implemented to preserve Puerto Princesa’s identity that sets it apart from any other place in the country and that makes the city a tourist attraction.
It should maintain what is it known for, the green city and the province on its part, worthy of being called, the last frontier.
Aside from allowing maximum development to happen in a regulated manner to prevent overdevelopment, zoning and planning measures control traffic, pollution; and while allowing the city to grow, control measures maintain growth at sustainable levels.
Determining and maintaining sustainable levels to effectively manage tourism growth are essential to keep alive the goose that lays Puerto Princesa’s golden eggs. The goal is to sustain rather than deplete tourism resources.
The question of the human impact particularly on the underground river should also be studied and of primordial concern.
How does the increased carbon dioxide from human exhalation impact on the ecosystem balance within the cave? There were reports that the number of bats living in the cave have decreased, an indication of a change in the ecosystem balance within the cave.
Humans introduce lint that flies around, attaches to the cave walls, and impedes the natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites. Think of how much lint an average of 45,000 humans who enter the cave per month can give off. How do the rock formations combat lint?
Being inscribed on the World Heritage List requires managing and maintaining the natural equilibrium of the park, assuring its sustainability and its future, while allowing tourists and visitors to enjoy its natural beauty.
A Management plan to protect and guide all impacts in the entire Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park is what the city is committed to. And it should insure by all its might and of the law that it is strictly implemented without pause.
The tourist buzz is expected to bring more benefits to the Puerto Princesa community, and it should.
However, unless sustainability guides the tourist boom, in the end the benefits could turn out to be not only short-lived, but also harmful to the city’s tourism assets, providing only temporary relief for the community.
Tourism is normally double-edged: beneficial when well-managed, and disastrous when tourism assets are exploited.
If not hatched sustainably, those golden eggs may turn out not be golden in the long run.
References:
Elona Jamie Marie, Tourist arrivals in Puerto Princesa likely to hit 700,000, INQUIRER.net
5:16 pm | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
Villalon Augusto F., Augusto F., Is Puerto Princesa’s tourism boom sustainable? Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:08 am | Monday, March 12th, 2012
4 comments:
Under ground river really makes us proud. This is one of the most visited place here in the Philippines. I am glad that the city of Palawan already had improvements.
I agree, I just visit Palawan just last week and I can say that the place is improving. There are a lot of tourists keeps on coming and witness the beauty of Underground River.
That is the reason why we should take care of the place. Progress should not sacrifice serenity, the environment where Puerto Princesa is known for.
Hello, This post was quite interesting. I am glad that I came across here and read your informative blog. Big thanks for sharing this with us.
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