Korea, China top list of Boracay arrivals in first 6 months

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Visitor arrivals from Korea and China are the top source markets of Boracay Island for the six months this year, thanks largely on regional and domestic flights mounted to Kalibo and Caticlan airports. 

PHOTO AKLAN FORUM JOURNAL

Korea topped the tourist generating markets with 175,470 arrivals followed closely by China with 174,064. Taiwan ranks as the third biggest source of tourists with 25,067.

Boracay Island received 76 percent of 495,436 foreigners between January to June from the top three inbound market for tourist arrivals, according to Malay Municipal Tourism Office and Department of Tourism-Boracay office. 

The East Asian region was the largest contributor of tourist numbers with 53,513 or 83 percent of 64,651 arrivals for the month of June. The Southeast Asia countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia also brought 3,491 travellers while a total of 2,092 tourists from North America composed of Mexico, United States and Canada also traveled to Boracay last month. 

International visitors from Northern Europe (Sweden, Ireland, Finland, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway) had 1,525 arrivals and the emerging markets from Middle East countries contributed 960 arrivals. 

Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists to the island went up by 21 percent to 584,753 from 484,131 last year. 

Total tourist arrivals also recorded an upward trend with 1,107,167, growing by 13-percent compared to 982,710 last year. 

The article was originally published by independent online blog Aklan Forum Journal. The unrestricted use in print or radio, publication and distribution of articles are allowed provided the original author and Aklan Forum Journal are credited.