Travel

No More Beach Parties When Philippines' Boracay Island Reopens

  • Boracay to accept visitors from Oct. 26 after 6-month shutdown
  • Tourism chief says drinking, smoking banned; visitors limited

Tourists parasail off the shore of Boracay in 2015. 

Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

Say goodbye to beach parties and water sports when the white-sand resort of Boracay Island in the central Philippines reopens to tourists on Friday after a six-month shutdown.

“Our guests can expect a better Boracay when it comes to maintaining a high environmental standard,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said via Facebook messenger. Please manage your expectations, she added in a word of advice to tourists expecting the same Boracay.