報告

Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Coron Island, Palawan Province, Philippines - Policy Gap
and Impact Analysis
フィリピン・パラワン州・コロン島における持続可能な観光推進に向けて － 政策ギャップ分析

Masanori KOBAYASHI
小林 正典*

Abstract： Tourism is an important source of revenue for the Philippines particularly remote and rural
coastal and island areas such as those islands in Palawan Province. However, drastic increase of
inbound tourists that surpasses the development of required infrastructure degrade the environment
and undermine sustainability. While the national government, the local authority and tourism business
associations strive to promote sustainable tourism through the compliance with the code of conducts in
tour operations to safeguard the safety of the tourists and the environment, the risks associated with
sustainable tourism are at the multifaceted and multiple-levels that can go beyond what the local
stakeholders are able to squarely address to hedge such risks. The Coron’s Charter for Sustainable
Tourism provides a useful policy and institutional framework. Yet, the challenges lie with its compliance
and enforcement by the tour agents and business entities. The continuous monitoring, compliance and
enforcement mechanisms need to evolve in a participatory manner and be operationalized with the
more proactive involvement of local business associations and stakeholder groups.
Key Words： sustainable tourism, coastal and island, monitoring, compliance, risk management,
public awareness, information
要旨：フィリピン, 特に遠方の地方沿岸・島嶼地域において,観光は重要な収入源である。しかし, 必要
なインフラ整備を超えて観光客が劇的に増大すれば, 環境を劣化させ持続性を損なう。中央政府,自治体,業
界は持続可能な観光の推進に向け, 行動規範を定め,観光客の安全のみならず, 環境保全を目指しているが,
持続可能な観光に付随するリスクは多面的かつ多様なレベルに及ぶもので, そのリスクの回避には地域のス
テークホルダーの対処能力を超えるものもある。コロン・持続可能な観光憲章は有用な政策・制度的枠組み
を提供する。観光業界による遵守を監視, 履行確保, 強制措置などについて, 業界の積極的な関与を得て参
加型アプローチで発展させ, 実施を図っていくことが求められている。
キーワード：越境型環境管理, 環境情報アクセス, 市民参加, 事前通知手続き, 個人通報

INTRODUCTION and institutional frameworks (Boley 2017). Policy and

Tourism is a key revenue source for the Philippines
particulalry remote coastal and island communities.
Tourism needs to be based on sustainability principles
and contribute sustainable development by protecting
the enviornment and ecosystems and improving local
economies and people’s well-being (UN 2012).
Sustainable tourism is geared towards balancing
environemntal protection and economic development
(Dedeke 2017). As coatal and island communities and
ecosystems are vulnerable, it is vital to prudently
manage and balance economic development and
enviornmental protection (Dvarskas 2017). The tourism
sector has enbedded the policies of promoting
sustaianble tourism by adopting relevant strategies and
action plans (Budeanu 2016).
Like other sustainable development discourses,
there is a gap in promoting sustainable tourism in the
context of the locas stakeholders’ aspiration and policy
*
Ocean Policy Research Institute of The Sasakawa Peace Foundation
institional gap analysis is an important part of the
processes to forge policy and institutional capacity for
achieving sustainable development by examining the
discrepancy between the required policy and
institutional set-ups and those that are currently in
place (Deen 2015, Bigard et al 2017, Hoberg et al 2016,
Pentz and Lkenk 2017, Snilstveit et al 2016, Janowski
2016). An analysis needs to be carried out over the policy
and instittuional framworks for not just balancing
economic development and environmental protection,
but also for incoporating social aspects and intangible
values through an integrated approach (Alexiadis 2017).
In gap analysis, it is indispensable to identify key
stakeholders and examine their respective distincitive
and common intersts withiin and between stakeholder
groups in order to understand the barries and
opportunities attributable to respective stakeholder
groups (Hardy and Pearson in press).
This paper is intended to analize the current state of

環境情報科学 学術研究論文集 31（2017） 263

tourism in Coron Island, Parawan Province, the
Philippines, examine the stakeholders’ perspectives and 7 1.4

Million

Billion
analyze policy and institional gaps. By doing so, the 6 1.2
paper aims at presenting challenges in promoting
sustainable tourism in Coron and providing perspective 5 1

for future research and capacity development 4 0.8

interventions. Philippines
3 0.6
World
1. RESEARCH TARGET 2 0.4

1 0.2
The Philippines is an archipelagic country of more
0 0
than 7,100 islands in the north of the tropical equator
and its abundant natural resources qualifies the country
to be one of the mega-biodiversity countries (RoP 2008
World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/indicator

and 2014). Rich and diverse biological resources are a

Fig.1 In-bound tourists of the Philippines
important basis for providing ecosystem services
including nutrient cycles, climate regulation, water
north to south, and 9 km from east to west with 600 m
supply, flood control, coastal protection and other
elevation. The population is 32,243 according to the
education and aesthetic values. Tourism is one of the
census of 2000 (PSA 2002). Coron Island is dominated
sectors that are supported by abundant natural
by steep cliffs and has 11 lakes. Wreck diving is popular
resources, biodiversity and ecosystem services.
in Coron Island as a number of Japanese battle ships of
Tourism sector has been prospering and its growth
the Word War II are sunk and the aquatic views off
rate surpass the world average (Fig.1). Over the past 15
Coron Island are listed as the top-10 best scuba diving
years from 2000 – 2016, the in-bound tourists for the
sites in the world (NBC 2007). It is also important to
Philippines have been tripled (339 per cent) while the
note that there is an indigenous ethnic group called
global figure was doubled (229 per cent).
“Tagalaba” or “Cirilo Daguison” one of the oldest ethnic
Coron Island located in Palawan Province, 130 km
groups in the Philippines. Tagalaba has its own
southwest of Manila is one of the islands (Fig.2). The
language while they are also proficient in Palawan
tourists destined to Palawan has boosted since the
language. They have their own indigenous religion,
inscription of the Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River
rituals and perform dance and music.
National Park as a UNESCO World Heritage site in
Coron Island was affected by Super-typhoon Yolanda
1999 (UNESCO). The Puerto-Princesa Subterranean
(Haiyan) in November 2013 and the tourists plumbed as
River National Park is located 76 km northwest of
low as 200. However, it was restored to 400 arrival per
Puerto-Princesa, a capital city of Palawan Province. The
day by 2015, almost a year after the disaster. It is
Subterranean River was named as one of the new seven
reported that the disaster didn’t change the pattern of
wonders of nature by a global poll in 2012. The poll was
tourist visits to Coron (Palawan News 2015).
conducted by the New7Wonders Foundation (Agence
While there were spin-off economic benefits from the
France-Presse and New7 Wonders of Nature). The
boosting tourism in Palawan, and more specifically
number of tourists to Palawan has boosted from 160,000
Coron Island, there is also a mounting concern over the
in 2010 to 1.4 million in 2015. It has grown over 8 times
degradation of environment (Manalo 2017). With the
for the five years (Exclusive Hot Properties. n.d.). It is
basic and limited infrastructure, concerns were raised
projected to reach 2 million by 2020 with the 43 per cent
over the waste and sewage from local guest houses and
growth rate, 2.5 million by 2025 with the growth rate of
hoteliers that could damage the environment.
79 per cent.
The Department of Environment and Natural
Coron Island is not an exception from the booming
Resources (DENR) and the Department of Tourism
tourism in Palawan. Coron Island is located in
(DOT) has adopted in February 2014 the “National
northeast of Palawan Province. It is 20 km long from
Ecotourism Strategy & Action Plan 2013-2022”. The aid

264 環境情報科学 学術研究論文集 31（2017）


Manila
Coron
Puerto
Princesa
Island
World Atlas <http://www.worldatlas.com>,
ViaMichelin <https://www.viamichelin.com>
Fig.2 Map of the Philippines and Coron Island
agencies are also fueling technical assistance in the
tourism sector of the Philippines such as the Asian
Development Bank (ADB). ADB supported a project for
improving tourism and transport in Palawan (ADB
2012).
Nonetheless, the central government is unable to
intervene in each of the numerous tourist destination
islands and districts. In Coron Island, local people used
to be engaged in subsistent farming and fishing. It is
also a home of Tagalaba, an indigenous ethnic group. In
the light of socio-economic and cultural sensitivity and
susceptibility to external pressures including the rapid
increase of tourists, Coron Island was chosen as a study
area for examining the local people’s perception about
the impacts of tourism and analyzing the policy and
institutional gaps towards promoting sustainable
tourism.
2. METHODS
In order to conduct gap analysis on policy and
institution for promoting sustainable tourism in Coron,
focused group discussions were conducted three times in
March 2013, September 2013 and March 2014. The
questionnaire survey was also conducted in March 2013
and March 2014.
A stakeholder theory (Hardy 2017) is applied in the
analysis by identifying key stakeholders such as
analyzing hotel operators, travel agencies, tour guides,
local governments and local communities and NGOs.
The Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) is applied
環境情報科学 学術研究論文集 31（2017）
comprehending the stakeholders’ perception on the
impacts of tourism and gaps by examining the outcome
of the questionnaire surveys and the focused group
discussions.
In the focused group discussions, it was mainly
intended to exchange views among the participants on
the impacts of tourism on the local environment and
livelihood, policy gaps and suggested actions. The
questionnaire surveys were developed and conducted to
illustrate the perception of local stakeholders in
quantitative manners and draw its tendency and
variation.
3. RESULTS
3.1 Focused group discussions and sustainable
tourism charter development
In the stakeholders focused discussions in March
2013, 35 participants (10 hotel operators, 4 travel
agencies, 5 local tour agencies, 3 tour guides, 7 local
governments, 6 local communities and NGOs). They
have first reviewed the impacts of tourism and raised a
concern over its negative impacts without proper
regulatory frameworks and voluntary actions. At the
same time, the participants broke into two sub-groups
and reviewed the selected four major tourism sites
namely Siete Pecados, Kayangalan Lake, Dimanglet
Island and Lajala Island. They have discussed the
characteristics and conditions of respective sites for
tourism. As a part of the conclusions, it was proposed to
develop a draft charter of sustainable tourism for Coron.
The local government also had an intention to develop a
sub-regional plan for promoting sustainable tourism in
northern Palawan.
In September 2013, 66 participants attended the
stakeholders’ focused group discussions. The
participants included 25 tour operators, 13 hotel
operators, 7 local government officials and NGOs and
experts. Four persons attended the workshop in March
2013. The participants have discussed the measures to
protect the environment in different tourist destination
sites such as beaches, lakes and snorkeling sites. The
measures included not just those aimed at reducing
pollution and waste, but also raising the safety and
comfort of tourists.
The participants also addressed policy and
265
institutional gaps such as the shortage of qualified staff
members for promoting sustainable tourism. Reference Very much degrade

was also made to the absence of user fees, insufficient

docking areas. Lack of first medical aid kits and Degraded

lifeguards were also raised. Danger in the trailing, fire

Difficult to say
hazard from cigarette smoking, and lack of toilet
facilities were also raised. It was also interesting to note Improving
that the participants underlined the importance of
informing the tourists of the socio-cultural features of Improving very much

Coron Island.
Stakeholders particularly those from the Society for
Sustainable Tourism and Development Inc (SSTDI), the
Municipal Government of Coron, the Calamianes
Cultural Conservation Inc, the Department of Tourism
and any other stakeholder groups have collaborated in
devising a draft charter for sustainable tourism in Coron.
Inputs were also provided by the United Nations
Environment Programme, the Thailand Environment
Institute and the Yokohama National University.
The draft charter laid out the objectives of (i)
conservation of local ecology and biodiversity, (ii) public
and private partnership, (iii) social responsibility and
environmental equity, and (iv) guideline development
for sustainable tourism. The charter stipulates 31
environmental, social and economic action points. The
text provided useful elements for uniting stakeholders
towards promoting sustainable tourism. The charter
was reviewed at the focused group discussions with the
participants over 30.
3.2 Perception on environmental changes
The stakeholders were inquired about how they view
the environmental changes. In March 2013 (n=13), 67
per cent of the respondents stated that the environment
has been degraded and 17 per cent stated that the
environment has been severely degraded. Thus, 84 per
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Mar 2013 Mar 2014
Fig.3 Stakeholders’ perception on environmental
changes in 2013 and 2014
the level of concerns held by the local stakeholders in
relation with tourism. By applying weighted scoring
(very concerned = 2, concerned =1, neutral =0, not so
much = -1, not at all = -2) to the identified phenomena,
the most concerned phenomenon was the increase of
tourists (34) followed by deforestation (32), coral reef
damage (32), marine water pollution (32), mangrove
depletion (29), waste increase (24) and fish stock Fig.4
Stakeholders' perception on tourism and its impacts depletion (21)
as shown in Fig.4. The tourist increase wasn’t a direct
environment impact, but included in the questionnaire as it has
collateral environmental impacts. The same question was asked in
March 2014 a year later, and its comparison result was shown
Fig.5. The rate of increase in the stakeholders’ concern was the
highest for typhoon and flood risks (2.57) followed by rain
scarcity (1.07), fish stock depletion (1.05), mining (0.88) and river
water pollution (0.82).
n=19
Increasing tourists
Deforestation

cent stated that the environment has degraded

Coral reefs damage
Marine water pollution

moderately or severely (Fig.3). A year later in March Mangrove depletion

Waste increase
2014 (n=25), 43 per cent stated that the environment is Fish stock depletion

improving and 35 per cent stated that the environment Underground water depletion
Air pollution
is degrading. By combining “moderate” and “severe or River water pollution
Increased mining interests
significant”, it can be said that 48 per cent regard the Rain scarecity

environment improving and 43 per cent consider the Increased typhoons and flood risks

environment degrading. A greater percentage of

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Weighted scores are given as follows: very concerned = 2, points
stakeholders consider the environment improving. concerned =1, neutral =0, not so much = -1, not at all = -2

3.3 Perception on tourism and its impacts Fig.4 Stakeholders’ concern on the Coron’s environment
The questionnaire survey of March 2013 revealed (2013)

266 環境情報科学 学術研究論文集 31（2017）

 n=19 for 2013,
on the suggested measures for promoting sustainable
n=25 for 2014 tourism. Awareness raising, private sector involvement,
Increased typhoons and flood risks
regulations and penalties were almost unanimously
Rain scarecity
Fish stock depletion supported as shown in Table 1. On the other hand, the
idea of introducing tax on natural resource use was
Increased mining interests
River water pollution
Underground water depletion poorly supported. The questionnaire was not specific
Waste increase
Coral reefs damaged
enough to distinguish the tax for the livelihood use and
Mangrove depletion the tax for the commercial use, and this needs to be
Air pollution
Marine water pollution clarified in the future research. Fiscal support and
Increasing tourists
subsidies faced a certain level of disagreement.
Deforestation

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

time ４．DISCUSSION
Figures shows the rate of changes in the weight scores of
2014 compared with 2013 in the same calculation method.
Through the series of focused group discussions,
Fig.5 Changes of stakeholders' perception over 2013 – stakeholders have expanded their knowledge base and
2014 partnership. Multi-stakeholder partnership was forged
to undertake measures for promoting sustainable
3.4 Evaluation of the draft Charter for Sustainable tourism. The Super-typhoon Haiyan was a major
Tourism in Coron external shock to the Philippines including Coron Island.
The draft Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Coron The reconstruction process might have made local
was developed and presented at the focused group people perceive environmental improvement. Haiyan
discussions. The draft Charter was the conceptual might have shifted their attention from the tourist
framework document to promote sustainable tourism in increase to disaster and rain scarcity. The local
Coron through the suggested measures such as those stakeholders can reinforce disaster preparedness and
aimed at conserving ecosystem and nature, reducing resilience. However, holistic and multi-scale actions are
wastes, conserving quality water, promoting required to overcome climate change impacts.
environmentally sound energy and fostering sustainable
local livelihood. The participants were inquired in the Table 1: Stakeholders’ views on Suggested Measures
questionnaire survey in March 2014 about their for Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Coron
evaluation of the components contained in the draft Propositions Agree disagree Do not know
Charter, related documents and mechanisms. The We should teach the importance of
protecting the environment more in the
outcome is compiled with the weighed scores (well schools. 24 0 1
Private sector should support
developed = 2, reasonably developed = 1, deficient = -1 environmental conservation 24 0 0
very deficient = -2). The participants viewed the draft Government must strengthen
environmental regulations 23 1 0
Charter as a useful document (30). Participants also We should enforce the penalty against
those who damage the environmental. 23 0 0
gave positive notes to the consultation mechanisms We should engage stakeholders in
created in this process of stakeholder discourses on consultations and decision making. 21 2 0
We should disseminate information to
sustainable tourism in Coron (26), and partnership the public about the environment,
forged in this process as well (25). However, limited compliance and rule violations
We should strengthen the local
20 3 0

evaluation was given to information dissemination government by giving them more budget
and people to monitor the local
mechanism (22), compliance and enforcement environment and train local people for
mechanism (21), benchmarks and indicators (21) and sustainable natural resource use. 19 4 0
The government should subsidize the
monitoring mechanism (18). environmental conservation. 17 7 0

3.5 Assessment of the suggested measures for We should recourse to judicial

proceedings (bring a case to the court). 12 8 1
promoting sustainable tourism in Coron We should raise the tax on the users of
natural resources. 11 11 0
The stakeholders were also inquired in the There is nothing we can do to improve
questionnaire survey in March 2014 about their views the environment. 2 19 1

環境情報科学 学術研究論文集 31（2017） 267

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