Boracay the 1970s. In 1970, the movies "Nam's Angels" (released in the U.S. as "The Losers") and "Too Late the Hero" used filming locations on Boracay and Caticlan. There was an influx of Western tourists after German writer Jens Peter called it "paradise on Earth" in his book about the Philippines in 1978. In the 1980s, the island became popular as a budget destination for backpackers. By the 1990s, Boracay's beaches were being acclaimed as the best in the world. However in 1997, the tourist arrival to the resort island dropped 60 percent due to the increase of coliform bacteria from
Christmas Island Resort July 2009 it was reported that the Australian Federal Government was negotiating with Kwon about using the resort facilities to relieve overcrowding at the island’s Immigration Detention Centre because of increases in boatloads of asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia. In response, the island’s Shire President, Gordon Thomson, said that the Australian government should take control of the then mothballed resort and hand it over to the Christmas Island community to operate as a tourist resort. In 2013, Kwon started negotiations with the Australian government for the possibility to lease the resort as a viable solution to the island’s growing