Leyte’s Kalanggaman Island Fully-Booked This Summer

There’s no more room for tourists who want to explore Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte with the entire month of April fully-booked until the second week of May.

Raoul Bacalla, head of the Palompon municipal environment and natural resources office, said in a mobile phone interview Tuesday that people made reservations for April and May as early as last year.

“That is why we have been asking people who wanted to visit Kalanggaman to call us first for reservations for them to be accommodated,” Bacalla said.

Since they opened the island to tourists in 2012, the local government has been imposing maximum carrying capacity on the island to avoid overcrowding and pollution. Only 500 tourists are allowed to visit Kalanggaman on a daily basis.

The 750-meter long uninhabited island is a prime tourist destination in this town, popular for its long stretch of white sand and for it’s more than 700 meters long picturesque sandbar on the eastern side and the about 250-meter long sandbar on the western part.

“Please call our office first or visit our website and Facebook fan page to inquire before coming to Kalanggaman because even if you are already in Palompon, we will not accommodate due to limited carrying capacity,” Bacalla said.

Bacalla recalled that when they imposed the carrying capacity regulation on the island, the move was considered by others as unorthodox.

However, after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the closure of Boracay Island for six months to undergo rehabilitation, Bacalla said most local governments with tourist destinations looked up to the island as a model for best practices in tourism promotion and environmental protection.

“That is why the role of local government is very important for those with tourist destination because they have to put policies to protect the integrity of the destination before prioritizing the profit that comes from tourists,” Bacalla said.

Aside from enforcing a maximum carrying capacity, the local government also regularly closes the island to tourist for at least two weeks every year, for them to do clean-up and let the island recover, breath, and rest from the presence of visitors.

Tourists wanting to visit Kalangaman are advised to contact the Palompon Eco-Tourism Office through these numbers: (053) 555-9731, 0926-816-4005, 0926-816-4007 and 0999-555-1421.

The Facebook fan page is LGU Palompon and their website is http://palomponleyte.gov.ph/.

The entrance fee to Kalanggaman is PHP500 for foreigners and PHP150 for locals. For an overnight stay, the charge is PHP750 for foreign tourists and PHP225 for locals. (PNA)