Philippines – El Nido, The Price of Tourism, Look Away Now

El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, May 2016. With the evolution of mass tourism across Southeast Asia there is inevitably going to be an environmental impact. Thailand’s offshore is suffering now and Cambodia’s Koh Rong is starting to crack. Here in El Nido mass tourism is also having an impact albeit in a relatively small way for now! The side of tourism that causes us all to look away, ignore and forget is evident from the town beach and spots around the bay, I’d throw caution to the wind and swim somewhere else!

Here, dirty water from the town seeps into the bay while further out one can sea brown sludge floating between El Nido and the main Island. Garbage of course is always a problem in Asian beach communities and well, its just piled up and forgotten about, here between the cleaned beaches of El Nido.