Intl mag finds Boracay still among Asia's best

MANILA - Boracay still lures hundreds of admirers, a Singapore-based magazine confirmed.

"Our readers are in the good position to judge because they are great travelers and fly around the region frequently on business as they are an affluent group and they expect high standards from the airlines and the hotels that service them," the Department of Tourism (DoT) said, quoting AdAsia publisher Allein Moore.

The survey conducted by Singapore-based AdAsia Magazine hailed Boracay Island as one of Asia's premier attractions during the Second Annual Asia Travel and Tourism Creative Awards.

Boracay joined the ranks of the Grand Palace in Thailand, Guchi Tunel in Vietnam, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, MT Cook in New Zealand, Gold Coast in Australia and the Water Village in Brunei as the jewels of the region.

DoT said most of the entries in the survey came from China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and the Philippines.

"Boracay has turned into the country's most recognized signature tourist destinations in the international tourism market," Tourism secretary Joseph Ace Durano said.

This development came in the wake of controversies surrounding local and foreign resort owners in Boracay who were seeking the recall of Presidential Proclamation 1064 which reclassified the 628 hectares or 60.94 percent of the 1,032-hectare land resort as "alienable and disposable."

Durano was quoted as saying that the issue must be settled immediately so as not to "dampen investor's interest" on the island.

"The resolution will cure the uncertainty which if prolonged will dampen investor's interest on the island of Boracay," he said.