Boracay tourist arrivals up by 9 percent

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Boracay’s tourism registered 9.63 percent growth in tourist arrivals for the first five months this year, data from Department of Tourism (DoT)-Boracay showed.

Latest tourism figures had 735,053 tourists compared to 670,479 of the same period last year. 

Boracay tourism officer Artemio Ticar said, “for the month of May alone, 167,506 travelers stayed in Boracay Island compared to 151,017 tourists last year.”

In May this year, the number of international tourists increased by 23 percent to 50,048 compared from 40,617 last year.

Boracay Island had a total of 113,445 domestic tourists last May, up by 6.6 percent or 106,375 tourists over the same period last year.

Visitors from Korea comprised the biggest share of tourism market with 18,932 arrivals for the month of May. Apart from Korea, the other top sources of tourist arrivals are from China with 12,429 and Taiwan with 3,747.

DoT is targeting to surpass the 1.5 million tourist arrivals in Boracay Island for this year.