850,000 tourists visited Boracay in first half of 2015

A total of 852,107 tourists visited the island of Boracay in the first half of 2015. These visitors included 357,304 foreign tourists; 25,576 overseas Filipinos; and 469,227 domestic tourists based on the record of Aklan Provincial Tourism Office.

Travellers to this island resort in the first quarter of this year reached 388,695, up by 1.36 percent from the same period last year. In this year’s first quarter, foreign visitors reached 197,756, lower by 2 percent compared to the 202,731 total foreigner arrivals last year.

Visitors from Korea numbered 84,367, or 42.66 percent of the total foreigners. They grew by 40.9 percent from 59,909 arrivals last year. Chinese tourists, on the other hand, reached 24,087 (12.18 percent), followed by Taiwanese with 12,978 (6.56 percent). Malaysians increased in number by 382 percent to 7,574 this year from 1,574 last year.

In March alone, a total of 124,804 tourists visited this island resort. Foreign tourists stood at 53,877, with Korea leading international travellers at 19,802, followed by China (6,260). Other countries in the island’s top 10 markets in the first quarter of this year are United States (8,652 arrivals), Australia (6,841), Russia (5,185), United Kingdom (4,416), Japan (3,711), Singapore (3,546), and Germany (3,536).

Latest statistics showed East Asians — those from Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea — had 126,298 arrivals, or 63.86 percent of the foreign visitors. North Americans, or those from Canada, Mexico and the United States, registered 11,999 arrivals, or 6.06 percent of international visitors.

Domestic tourists also surged by 5.12 percent to 176,225 in the first three months of this year from 167,638 last year.

The Department of Tourism is optimistic it could reach its 1.6-million tourist arrival target in Boracay by the end of the year. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)