Boracay foreign tourist arrivals up by 15 percent

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

International tourist arrivals grew by 15.32 percent to 352,737 arrivals for the first six months this year compared to 298,689 in 2013 in Boracay Island.

The increase in inbound tourists in Boracay was mainly attributed by regional flights of fly budget carriers and aggressive marketing campaigns of the Department of Tourism (DoT), making it one of the country’s top travel and tourist destinations.

In 2012, foreign tourist arrivals in the island recorded 248,580 from January to June. 

The East Asian market composed of China, Japan, Korea, Hongkong and Taiwan remains the largest contributor with 254,528 arrivals, representing a 72.15 per cent share of the overall foreign tourist arrivals to Boracay. 

The ASEAN markets comprised of Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia was the second largest market with 19,063 arrivals followed by North Americans from Canada, Mexico and the United States with 17,093 arrivals.

The top ten foreign tourist generating markets from January to June were Korea (116,625), China (109,920), Taiwan (20,340), the United States of America (12,671), Russia (10,998), Singapore (9,842), Australia (9,676), Malaysia (6,751), United Kingdom (5,569) and Germany (5,153).

Domestic tourists soared to 467,204 from January to June this year from 450,427 arrivals last year.

In June, Korean tourists emerged as top visitor markets with 21,146 arrivals followed by Chinese nationals with 9.812 arrivals and Taiwanese with 4,296 arrivals.

Tourism officer Artemio Ticar said DoT has forecast tourist arrivals to grow to 1.5 million arrivals from 1.3 million last year.

For the first two quarters, Boracay Island continues to attract travelers with 845,299 arrivals from 774,781, representing a strong 8.3 percent growth in tourist arrivals over the previous year.