Foreigners to Boracay Island keep growing

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

The number of foreign tourists travelling to Boracay Island rose by 15.6 percent from January to February this year.

Foreign travelers accounted to 141,447 compared to 122,337 from the same period last year,  according to latest figures from Malay Municipal Tourism Office. 

Tourist numbers to Boracay Island also climbed to 240,725 during the first two months of the year compared to 228,598 tourist arrivals for the same period in 2013. 

From January to February, China is the top source of overseas tourists with 52,740, up 75.56 percent over the same period last year, followed by South Korea with 40,511. 

Taiwan came in third with 6,387 arrivals, Russia at 6,281 and United States in fifth with 4,876 arrivals.   

By region, East Asian tourists from China, Hongkong, Korea, Taiwan and Japan remain the largest contributor with 102,226 arrivals. North America comprising of Canada, United States and Mexico is the second largest market by region with 6,986 arrivals followed by Eastern Europeans from Poland and Russia has 6,693 arrivals.  

Arrivals from the neighboring Southeast Asia also showed 4,212 arrivals, up 48 percent from 2,834 for the period January through February last year.

In 2014, Boracay Island received 89,606 local tourists, but experienced a decline of 6.9 percent from 96,254 for the first two months last year. 

Currently, it attracts 1.3 million tourists in a year and the tourism department target is to reach 1.5 million by end of 2014.