KALIBO, Aklan – A total of 944,850 tourist arrivals in Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan was recorded from January to May 2023, according to the town’s Tourism Office.
Most of the island’s visitors for the first five months of the year were domestic tourists (735,645 arrivals).
Foreign tourist arrivals recorded were at 185,039. There were visiting overseas Filipino workers / overseas Filipinos, too (24,166).
Malay Tourism Officer Felix Gregorio Delos Santos said the local government unit (LGU) of Malay is targeting 1.8 to 2 million tourist arrivals in Boracay for this year.
This June, the local tourism office is expected to reach the one million mark for domestic and foreign tourist arrivals.
According to Delos Santos, the tourism industry of the island gradually bouncing back, citing the increased volume of visiting tourists and bookings of different accommodation establishments.
The chief tourism officer also said that currently, arrivals of international tourists who are mostly from South Korea, United States of America, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom are also picking up.
Aside from Korea, the province of Aklan through the Kalibo International Airport and Caticlan Airport, also caters direct flights from China and Taipei, and in fact, more international flight operations are expected to resume operations.
The Malay LGU is optimistic that the tourist arrivals target in the island will be achieved by the end of this year.
The municipality was hailed as one of the top contributing municipalities for tourist arrivals in the entire Western Visayas for calendar year 2022.
A Plaque of Appreciation from the Department of Tourism 6 was given to Malay LGU through Delos Santos during the 1st Tourism Appreciation Night dubbed as “Pagdayaw 2023” in line with the celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of the Department of Tourism held on the May 17 at Zuri Hotel in Iloilo, City. (PIA-Aklan/PN)
