BCCI History
    
In May  31, 2004 the Malay Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry was  founded by 28 members made up of various resorts, hotels restaurants  and other business establishments engaged in tourism in the island of  Boracay. It was later, in July 23, 2004, that the Chamber officially  changed its name to Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.  (BCCI) and became an accredited member of the Philippine Chamber of  Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the umbrella organization of all chambers  in the country. BCCI was awarded the "Most Outstanding Young Chamber  for 2006 by the PCCI during the Philippine Business Conference held in  Manila last November 2006.  Currently, Boracay Chamber has 42 regular  members and its membership continues to grow in numbers.

ADVOCACIES
 
Environmental  protection and capability building for the sustainable development of  tourism in Boracay is the underlying philosophy of the Boracay Chamber  in its advocacies. The Chamber\'s main advocacies include environmental  protection and proper waste management. These require immediate action  and solutions to preserve the beauty of the island, the source of every  stakeholder\'s existence. BCCI believes that businesses and enterprises  can exist and flourish with social responsibility towards the  environment and the community it is in. In line with this, BCCI also  strongly advocates policy making, trade and investments promotions,  events management, and infrastructure projects that would support its  mission of sustainable development.
 
In 2004 the Boracay  Chamber identified solid waste management, water & sewerage  connection, watershed reforestation and the problem of flooding in  central part of the island as major environmental concerns that the  BCCI could help address and  catalyze groups into action. This resulted  in a successful project with the Canadian International Development  Agency (CIDA) which provided funds for the BCCI/Pearl2 Project (page is  in the making - no link yet). Today, Boracay Island has three Material  Recovery Facilities, which have become models of solid waste management  in other municipalities in the province of Aklan. The BCCI/Pearl2  project has also made the Boracay Chamber and the Department of Tourism  partners and today BCCI has several projects ongoing with the DOT.
 
The  Boracay Chamber also provides business development services to its members through training programs on human resource development,  management and consultancy as well as capability building workshops,  dissemination of information on important issues affecting the island  and its stakeholders. The BCCI also represents the business sector in  the island in a number of government bodies tasked with the formulation and implementation of policies affecting Boracay both local and  national.