BY MA. THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO City – Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan has welcomed a total of 92,045 tourists in the first two weeks of April this year, or from April 1 to 15.
Of the figure, 72,893 were domestic tourists, 990 were overseas Filipinos, and 18,162 were foreign tourists, data from the Malay Tourism Office (MTO) showed.
During the Holy Week, the MTO recorded 56,134 tourist arrivals, the highest on Maundy Thursday, March 28, with 13,898. This was, however, a bit lower compared with last year’s 62,241 arrivals, of which over 16,000 was during Maundy Thursday.
The MTO is also expecting tourist arrivals to increase further during the upcoming Love Boracay 2024.
Love Boracay is the biggest and most highly anticipated annual party season on the island, emphasizing environmental conservation through a series of activities from April 26 to May 1.
The event will feature sports festival scheduled from April 26 to 30.
The eight sports events are beach tennis, beach volleyball, beach soccer, football, dragon boat, ultimate frisbee, pickle ball and round net, and non-sport paraw race and sandcastle making.
The festival will be the second tournament to be organized by the Boracay Racquet Sports Club PH team of Maggie Tirol, Theo Dy and Nok Sacapaño after Boracay Beach Games last month.
Meanwhile, the Malay local government has activated its municipal incident management team to monitor tourist arrivals in Boracay Island this summer.
“In terms of preparation, we consider our peace and order and security, medical and emergency preparedness, as well as our solid waste management. So far, we are in place already,” Malay chief tourism operations officer Felix delos Santos Jr. said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency)/PN
