BORACAY – The Malay Municipal Tourism Office (MMTO) is expecting around 50,000 visitors for this year’s Holy Week celebration in the world famous-island.
MMTO Tourism Operations chief Felix Delos Santos Jr. said tourist arrivals are likely to hit 50,917 from Holy Monday to Easter Sunday on April.
For this year, the projected local tourist arrivals are around 29,063 while foreign visitors are expected to up by 21,147. Around 708 overseas Filipino workers will also likely to visit the island.
Chinese and Koreans remained the island’s top sources of tourism market for the first two months with 80 percent share to the total foreigners.
As of March 20, the Boracay Inter-agency Task Force accredited 326 accommodation establishments with 11,943 rooms.
The task force already implemented tight security measures to ensure travelers’ safety in Boracay.
Foot and mobile patrols, establishments of police assistance desks and increased deployment of personnel are set to enforce the security plans for residents and visitors.
The local government officials are also looking to increase the environmental fee collected from tourists as a garbage collection problem hounds the island.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said officials will implement the move- if it will be able to address the current environmental issues on the island. The current fee collected is at P75.
“If you increase this in favor of the clean, no garbage, at yung ating mga environmental issues dito ay maaddress properly at masustain,” Cimatu said. (With a report from Akean Forum/PN)
