By Rjay Zuriaga Castor
Boracay has already welcomed over one million tourists in the first half of 2023, data from the Malay Tourism Office showed.
From January to June 15, the island received a total of 1,040,847 foreign and local tourists.
The majority of the visitors were domestic tourists, accounting for 816,426 arrivals. Meanwhile, foreign tourists and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) reached 199,098 and 25,323, respectively.
In the statistics report, April saw the highest number of tourist arrivals this year, with 213,736 visitors recorded.
The arrival record for the first six months of this year reached the mark faster than in 2022. Last year, Boracay reached the one millionth visitor milestone in August and ended the year with a total of 1,759,592 tourists.
Mayor Floribar Bautista of Malay had previously stated the target of attracting at least two million tourists this 2023.
Local government officials also expressed their aspirations to establish the Aklan province as the sports tourism capital of the Philippines.
Aklan Governor Jose Enrique Miraflores aims to accomplish this by hosting the 2024 Palarong Pambansa.
