BORACAY Island’s visitor traffic this year fell short of the target, thanks but no thanks to the ongoing tension between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista told Manila Standard in a phone interview that the targeted two-million visitors might still be hit, albeit a bit delayed.
Bautista attributed the shortfall to the country’s strained bilateral relations with China arising from the territorial dispute over the WPS.
In previous years, the Chinese topped tourist arrivals in Boracay,
However, tourist traffic to the famous resort island this year was logged at only two million, somewhat short of the 2.3- million target, Bautista disclosed.
In 2023, the two-million visitor volume was reached as early as December 19.
Of the current tourist arrivals, 1,592,355 were domestic tourists; 397, 867 were foreign, and 22, 806 were Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s). Many of the foreign tourists were South Koreans, Taiwanese and Europeans.
“We may contend with the 2.1 million tourists this year for Boracay,” Bautista said.
In 2023, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 Boracay registered some 2.15 million foreign and local tourists.
Niven Maquirang, the Jetty Port Special Operations Manager said a cruise ship is still expected to arrive in Boracay on Dec. 28, bringing in an estimated 2,000 passengers.
Esel Flores, the Caticlan Jetty Port administrator said with the current tourism trend, the province may reach some P530 million in revenue, up from last year’s P500 million.
The revenues was generated from the terminal fees collected both from local and foreign tourists at P150 each.
“The high collections are because we have seen a longer amihan season this year. We could only collect terminal fees from tourists when they passed through the Caticlan Jetty Port during sunny days. Whenever there is a strong rain or habagat, we cannot collect terminal fees because the terminal bound to Boracay is being transferred to Tabon Port also in Malay,” he explained.
