Tourism Needs No Fancy Underwater Hotels

Caught this headline via Pinoy Tumblr yesterday: "Asia’s first underwater resort hotel to be built off Palawan"

I'm sure it's meant to inspire excitement in readers, but why did a sense of dread come over me?  I RT-'d and reposted it on Twitter and Facebook, asking, "Why don't I feel excited about this?"  Some friends also responded disapprovingly to the news.

Two classic Star Wars lines come to mind: "I have a bad feeling about this" and "It's a trap!"  How can this be progress?  And who is/are the genius/es who thought we need fancy schmancy hotels to boost local tourism?  Especially in a delicate environment such as the Philippine coral system, which is already not in such a healthy state, an underwater hotel (what a stupid and ignorant idea) or any foreign structure than can mess up the ecological balance will reap a variety of environmental problems that will surely return to haunt us.  Coron's coral system itself is still healing from years of abuse and post-war damage.  

It's a good thing that there are several local communities keeping vigilant towards environmental protection.  The residents of Palawan had once successfully stopped the construction of a port in El Nido that would damage the local ecosystem.  I hope they raise up their arms again this time, more loudly and more adamantly than before.

#helpDOT supporters: what do you say?  Ibagsak!