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Volcano in Philippines Prompts Tourism Effort

Residents of the town of Legazpi City in the central Philippines are cashing in on the impending eruption of the Mayon volcano by selling posters showing the volcano erupting forcefully, shooting pyroclastic clouds into the sky with red-hot lava oozing from its crater. On the poster have been printed the words "Visit Legazpi: Mayon Eruption 2006." According to reports, Legazpi City councilor Cerilo Chan was the brainchild of the poster after realizing the tourism potential of the volcano. Chan said he wants to exploit this year`s eruption to bring some cash to the over 40,000 people who have been evacuated since the volcano started making up two weeks ago.

Local officials say that since Mayon started rumbling and releasing some lava on July 15, the Legazpi saw an influx of both foreign and local tourists. Some of the tourists were even venturing dangerously near to the lava flow to take pictures, or record the phenomenon with their digital cameras. The increased tourism ? even due to a potential natural disaster ? inspired Chan to come out with the posters and distributed them at places where there were heavy concentration of people such as public places, airports, hotels and at tourism district in Manila.

According to Chan, "I just noticed many foreigners were arriving, but that there were not enough people attending to them." At least 120 employees of the Philippines Central Bank visited the city to watch the Mayon volcano put on a free fireworks show at night, observing of course from a safe distance. Mayon is one of the major attractions in the Philippines because of its near-perfect cone shape and its history of eruptions. Its most violent eruption took place in 1814, and killed 1,200 people.