Erupting Philippine volcano draws thousands of tourists

Manila - Thousands of tourists have flocked to an eastern Philippine province to watch fiery lava oozing from the country's most active volcano, officials said Wednesday. An average of 2,400 tourists has been arriving daily in Albay province, 360 kilometers south-east of Manila, since the Mayon Volcano began erupting on December 14, provincial Governor Joey Salceda said.

If the arrivals were sustained, Salceda said, the number of visitors would hit 76,000 in one month, which would equal the annual number of tourist arrivals in the province.

"Our hotels, even the smaller ones, are getting fully booked," he said.

"Eateries, restaurants, malls, bars, even nightclubs, too, are flourishing," he added.

Salceda said the province was earning about 880,000 pesos (19,000 dollars) daily from the tourism surge brought about by Mayon's eruption, which offers spectacular views at night.

But he lamented that the income was not outweighing the costs on Albay's economy.

The provincial government was spending at least 1.5 million pesos a day for the more than 47,000 residents displaced to evacuation centers because of the eruption.

Mayon's last eruption in 2006 caused damage to livelihoods, crops and property estimated at 505 million pesos.

While admitting that tourism brought in by Mayon was beneficial to Albay, Salceda said the province was "better off" without the volcanic activity.

The governor added that some tourists were defying orders by authorities to stay away from danger zones, hiring all-terrain vehicles to get near the lava front.

"It's a big problem," he said. "I think the first violation of the zero casualty [policy] will be a dead tourist."

Authorities earlier dispatched troops to stop tourists from trekking into danger zones.

The Mayon Volcano, famous for its near-perfect cone, quieted down overnight with only one ash explosion being recorded by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

But the institute noted Wednesday that Mayon was continuously emitting lava, which has flowed nearly 6 kilometers down its slopes.

It added that the volcano's edifice remained inflated, which means that pressure and magma were building up inside.

The 2,472-meter volcano has erupted about 50 times since 1616. It last erupted in July 2006, forcing more than 30,000 people to flee their homes.

Mayon's most violent eruption was in 1814 when more than 1,200 people were killed and a town was buried in volcanic mud. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301467,erupting-philippine-volcano-draws-thousands-of-tourists.html.