LIST: 157 accredited hotels, resorts in Boracay

MANILA - Some 157 hotels and resorts in Boracay Island are allowed by the government to take in guests as the island reopened Friday.

The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force released a new list of accredited establishments, wherein some 7,308 rooms are ready for occupancy.

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Fairways and Bluewater Resort has the highest number of available rooms at 700, followed by Savoy Hotel Boracay with 559 rooms.

The island was closed in April to give way to a massive cleanup and the rehabilitation of its roads and sewerage system after President Rodrigo Duterte called the tourist destination a "cesspool." 

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said she hopes the new Boracay will be the start of a "culture of sustainable tourism" in the Philippines, adding other tourist destinations will be next.

"It means taking account of the repercussions of our actions on current and future situations of the environment," she told reporters.

Romulo-Puyat said she has sent a written "warning" to other top Philippine tourist draws including El Nido and Panglao islands, while others, such as the whale-shark-feeding site of Oslob have cut its tourist arrivals by half.

Boracay, which major tourist magazines consistently rate as among the world's best beaches, is a mere 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres).

- with report from Jeff Canoy, ABS-CBN News, and Reuters