Sun and beach for the longest time has been Boracay Island’s crowd-puller that thousands of locals and foreigners are willing to travel just to experience its unmatched combination of fine white sands and calm waters.

To date, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is ramping up efforts to “further elevate Boracay’s status on the world stage” and position it as a good alternative dive destination in the Philippines.

To support this goal, the DOT formally broke ground for the soon-to-rise Hyperbaric Chamber Center in Boracay Island on Tuesday.

In his message, Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista thanked the DOT for putting the island in its dive destinations map and emphasized the support this hyperbaric chamber center would provide to the recovering Boracay.

“Thank you very much, Ma’am Secretary, dahil sinama niyo ang Boracay as dive destination sa Pilipinas, kasi first time namin. I thank you very much for really pushing it na mayroon tayo dito (Thank you very much because you included Boracay as a dive destination in the Philippines, because it’s our first time. I thank you very much for pushing that we have a center here),” he said, addressing Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.

Bautista is optimistic this new center would attract more tourists to the island, specifically international divers.

On top of this, he said the municipality also targets to entice more millennials and those from the older age groups, particularly those that over 60 years old.

Frasco, for her part, said this initiative highlights the importance the government puts on the safety and comfort of tourists.

“[I]t’s also not enough to just say that we will continue to promote the island, we have to improve the developmental pillars of the island,” she said.

“The provision of safety measures for our tourists is a basic need, and therefore, it has to be addressed,” she added.

Boracay was among the five key destinations earlier identified for DOT’s hyperbaric chamber project to add to the 15 existing hyperbaric chambers across the country.

Other locations where the DOT and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) will soon construct hyperbaric chambers include Camiguin, Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro. (PNA)