Why Garden Island City of Samal doesn’t want to be the next Boracay

In many ways, this hidden island of Samal in the South is much better than the world-famous Boracay Island in the central Philippines.

This is what most tourism stakeholders here like to think, especially Araceli Ayuste, tourism council president of the Island Garden of Samal, the official name of this island-city.

“We don’t want this island to become the next Boracay because we know it can become much better than Boracay,” Ayuste said.

Most islanders like Ayuste don’t want to see Samal becoming too crowded and “over-commercialized”. A mushrooming of so many beach resorts in Samal is not something many islanders would be happy about.

“As much as possible, we’d like to keep the natural rural setting of Samal, inspite of being a city. We don’t like to see our island’s natural resources over-exploited by many investors,” says Ayuste who also runs Punta del Sol, a beach resort, one of around 30 resorts in the sword-shaped island surrounded by the deep blue waters of Davao Gulf.

“If Boracay can crow about its kilometric long-white beaches and nothing else, Samal islanders can crow not only about its pristine white beaches, but also its other unique attractions like some of the world’s best diving sites, hundreds of underground caves, century-old balete trees, vanishing islands and the world’s biggest population of fruit bats,” according to Samal’s senior tourism officer Virginia Ibo.

Many foreigners who visited Samal as tourists in the past fell in love with the island and ended up as foreign expats and permanent residents.

“It’s astonishing what you can discover in the island. It could be so addicting you’ll find yourself hooked to it completely,” says William Krelle, 68, who came here as a tourist in the early 80’s and found himself today an exporter of seafoods from Davao to Australia.

Besides its white beaches and natural attractions, a German editor cited the proximity of the nearby bustling city of Davao with all its modern telecommunications systems.

“I’ve never seen any place like this anywhere in the world where you can relax on a white beach on a beautiful island–yet you can still keep in touch with anyone in the world through the internet or my mobile phone,” says Ulrich Kronberg, 62, editor-publisher of two German sailboat magazines based in Hamburg.

Kronberg, who married a Samal native and had four children, runs his Hamburg publishing company by internet from the island.

Government trade officials in Davao find it fascinating that a growing number of foreigners who started out as tourists and visitors in the region ended up eventually as investors and traders and helping in the growth of the local economy.

“It’s delightful to know how foreigners who came here as tourists begin to like Samal and Davao so much that they ended up falling in love with a local girl, raised their families here and eventually put up their investments here,” says OIC regional director Marizon Loreto of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao.

This is one good competitive advantage over other places in the country that Loreto can cite about Davao and its nearby island of Samal.

“It’s such a blessing for us to have these advantages here that makes these foreigners decide to stay here for good, becoming investors and providing employment for our people here,” Loreto said.