Boracay foreign arrivals hit 19 percent growth in Q1

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

 

Foreign tourists registered 19 percent growth in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year in Boracay Island, the Malay Municipal Tourism Office data showed. 

From 170,038 foreign inbound tourists last year, the resort-island accommodated 202,731 foreigners for the first three months of this year.  The months of January and February have the biggest number of arrivals with 70,935 and 70,512 respectively. 

From January to March, Chinese nationals also posted 73,121 arrivals from 42,570 or 64 percent increase.  The Chinese tourists accounted for 36 percent of total inbound foreigners. 

The second largest tourism market came from Korea with 59,909 followed by Taiwan with 9,431, Russia with 8,588 and United States with 7,020.

The significant growth in foreign arrivals is due to easy connectivity and direct and chartered flights from China, Taiwan and Korea to Kalibo International Airport in Kalibo, Aklan. 

 

East Asians composed of Japan, Korea, China, Hongkong and Taiwan also registered 146,320 arrivals from January to March followed by 9,159 arrivals for Eastern Europe countries of Poland and Russia. 

Asian countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam had 7,355 arrivals and the North America composed of Canada, Mexico and United States with 7,286 arrivals.

Visitor arrivals also rose to 7.34 percent in the first three months, surpassing the previous 357,225 compared to 383,476 last year.

The provincial government is optimistic on reaching 1.5 million tourists by end of year with the influx of tourists during the summer and holiday seasons. 

Last year, Boracay Island achieved 1,363,601 arrivals, of which 615,508 were international tourists.