Comments on: Don’t tell anyone about El Nido: Philippines

By: Alba Luna

Alba Luna — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 14:32:41 +0000

I totally feel you. I was in Palawan and actually decided not to go up to El Nido. It was just too much for me. I went to the Underground River in Sabang and the massive tourism shocked me and disgusted me a bit.
But as you say where’s the limit? I really had a dilemma going on when I was on the island and this is what I decided to do: https://www.albaluna.es/en/go-go-question/

Thanks for the post, glad to hear I’m not the only one to feel that way!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 01:18:20 +0000

El Nido was the 6th place I’ve visited in the Philippines and it saved my overall opinion of the country. After some rough run-ins with police and other street thieves, I’d pretty much given up on the Phils but Puerto Princessa and El Nido were honest, hands-off, smiley and genuine. Can’t wait to get back!

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 16:01:35 +0000

Went there for honeymoon in 2012 and thought it was heaven. Loved it and wanted to stay forever and open a bar or something and never leave. It’s too small for a population explosion, and such a shame to spoil it. The Philippines are huge – 8000 islands – so many other places to check out rather than spoil one tiny place.

By: Michael McLean

Michael McLean — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:55:02 +0000

When I was there I ended up getting sick either from the diving equipment of because my dive master left me behind after I lost a fin and I surfaced to fast. As a result I had to sit around and rest. I loved the area. despite being sick I kayaked to islands on my own and rested exhausted on the sand once I got there. Tour boats came and went and I couldn’t help but feel the slightest pangs of pity for people being led around the blind.

I had wanted to move on from there. like Coron or camp up to the northern parts of the territory so I ended up in a lovely guest house for the duration of the stay with extremely hospital locals, that told me stories of a haunted tree on a mountain in the central area of the island where if animals slept they died.

I like to find my secret places, and when I do I tell people about them, because I’m hopeful that there is a new secret place waiting for me to find it.

By: Jenni

Jenni — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:28:42 +0000

Ever since I built the Philippines into my current itinerary, everyone and their dog had whispered Palawan. I happened to be there when the most recent typhoon struck, I was rained in most of the time. The beauty of it, for me, lay with the unanimous strength of the people that live there. Tourism had apparently taken a dive in Palawan after a couple of people were kidnapped nearly a decade ago. Recently, and exponentially, it’s recovering, but the people still aren’t reaping the benefits. One tricycle driver told me that the average woman in Palawan earns 150 pesos a week. I eat that for breakfast. Most of the tricycles are rented from the owners, so of that 50 pesos he asked for, he has to give a portion away. How is this fair tourism? If we’re disappointed that our sweet spots are no longer so sweet, we need to consider why then the locals are still struggling to pay their bills.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 10:11:29 +0000

It’s documented rather well in a tourism theory known as the Butler Sequence. As a place exceeds its carrying capacity, it inevitably heads towards an ugly period of stagnation. Then it has two choices – decline or reinvent itself. Atlantic City is a fantastic example of a tourist destination that boomed as a seaside retreat, died, and then reinvented itself (for better or worse) as a gambling hotspot on the east coast.

It’s all about sustainability — not just in terms of being green, but in terms of setting and maintaining a level of tourism that can be sustained without compromising the natural resources that put a place on the map. If the Philippines government wanted to maintain Palawan’s beauty, it could put into place strict development limits that would, in turn, limit the number of tourists that could be in the place at the same time.

El Nido is fine for now, as is Coron. They’re a long way from becoming Boracay (which, compared to Bali or Phuket, isn’t so terrible) but steps need to be taken if they’re going to avoid becoming another ugly tourist trap.

By: aliceteacake

aliceteacake — Sun, 17 May 2015 04:17:48 +0000

In reply to Laura. Yes! It has also happened to me that I have gone back somewhere and it has just not been the same. I think lots of things make a place though: the smells, the people(!), the weather haha. Good advice on staying in a hut outside of El Nido Town!

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 16 May 2015 12:15:32 +0000

I had the exact same experience last March, it was kind of disapointing. It helps to stay in a hut outside of El Nido Town.

I have been back to places where I had an amazing time years before (like Goa), but I think I should stop doing that. The memory often is better..

By: Jayson Moore

Jayson Moore — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 14:54:49 +0000

I agree completely! Well written. Here’s my two cents….We planned a trip to Palawan for our (brief) Christmas holidays this past December. We had heard of the exact same things echoed in your post, and after having our piece of chaos in Koh Phi Phi and everywhere else in Thailand for that matter, we were over it. We decided on Port Barton, which was indeed a secret paradise. Maybe not the most ideal beach, but the town is still mostly locals with no hawkers or full moon parties. It’s a special place because it is still undiscovered. Truly! Not to mention the island hopping/diving is amazing here, Turtles and Morays on every dive. Anyways, moral of the story is, those places still do exist, you just need to search a little harder to find ’em!

By: yuleefoster

yuleefoster — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 11:32:08 +0000

I totally agree with you, but this is what happens and with a country like the Philippines, they need the tourists