Boracay Tourist Arrivals Up 14%

The white sand beach of Boracay Island in Aklan continues to draw more visitors as its tourist arrivals increased by 14 percent from January to October this year.

Data from the Aklan Provincial Tourism Office showed that from January to October 2017, the island welcomed a total of 1,669,751 tourists; 203,005 higher compared to last year’s figure during the same period with 1,466,796.

Foreign visitors registered for the first 10 months of this year reached 806,296; while domestic tourists numbered to 826,828; and 36,627 were overseas Filipinos.

APTO’s Comparative Boracay Statistics 2016-2017 also revealed the positive growth rate each month of tourist arrivals in Boracay island this year; noting the month of April with the highest growth rate at 27 percent.

It is followed by August at 23 percent; September at 20 percent; May 19 percent; October 18 percent; and June at 14 percent.

The months of January, March, and July had same growth percentage of seven percent while the month of February had the lowest growth rate at one percent.

The 10-month tourist arrivals this year generated a total of P46,526,574,162.00 in tourism receipts, of which P31,769,430,700.80 were earned from foreign and overseas Filipinos visitors while the P14,757,143,461.20 came from domestic tourists.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism office in Boracay reported that seven cruises of three international cruise ships are scheduled to dock in Boracay from November 21 to December 25.

The said seven cruises are projected to bring in about 32,800 passengers and crew in the island. which is considered to have significant contribution to the number of tourist arrivals.

MS Celebrity Millennium of Celebrity Cruises will visit Boracay on Novemebr 21 and December 5; while MS World Dream of Dream Cruises is set to dock on Novemebr 22 and 29 and December 13 and 20; and, MSC Lirica of MSC Cruiseson December 25. (JSC/SQP/PIA6 Aklan)