KALIBO, Aklan – Tourist arrivals in the world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan continues to increase, setting aside the maximum capacity of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), after over a year that it was opened to the public.
According to the Mines and Geo Sciences Bureau (MGB) of the DENR, Boracay Island can only accommodate around 54,945 people every day. The DENR has pegged 35,730 for residents and 19,215 for tourists.
These figures exclude the stay-in workers of the different resorts and companies in the island.
It also indicates that Boracay’s current population of around 70,700 is more than enough for its daily maximum capacity.
Meanwhile, Malay acting mayor Floribar Bautista urged the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force to waive the capacity tourism limit for the island.
“I urged the task force to waive the capacity limit because in the first place, it is hard for them to monitor the capacity limit, complimenting the increasing number of tourists and the increasing number of the construction of resorts in Boracay,” he said.
Data from the Department of Tourism showed from Jan. to Nov. this year, there are around 1.7-million tourists who visited Boracay Island.
In 2017, Boracay registered around 2,001,974 foreign and local tourists. In 2018, the island reached 537,743 due to a six-month closure directed by President Rodrigo Duterte for the island’s rehabilitation.
DENR secretary and BIATF chair Roy Cimatu said he might ask the Congress for the extension of the duties of the task force, which is currently being studied.
The task force was officially created on May 8, 2018 and is expected to expire by May 8, 2020./PN
