By Joseph B.A. Marzan
South Koreans propelled foreign tourist arrivals to Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan so far in 2022, according to the latest data provided by the Department of Tourism-Region 6 (DOT-6).
Out of the 91,470 foreign arrivals recorded by the DOT-6 from February to November 14 of this year, 28.19 percent (25,791) are from the “Land of the Morning Calm.”
The East Asian nation accounted for the greater bulk of foreign arrivals to the island resort, with the rest coming from China (2,305) and its special region of Hong Kong (243), Japan (1,352), and Taiwan (551).
The European continent contributed 13,450, with the United Kingdom (3,409) topping the list, followed by Germany (2,311), France (1,270), Russia (792), Italy (756), The Netherlands (693), Switzerland (520), Spain (464), Denmark (399), Belgium (397), Austria (347), and Sweden (304).
Other Europeans who visited Boracay are from Turkey (237), Poland (215), Portugal and Romania (117 each), Czech Republic (101), Finland (94), Greece (60), Bulgaria (42), Iceland (31), Luxembourg (24), and Lithuania (15).
The Philippines’ Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors are the second-biggest Asian bloc to visit the island (19,508), with Laos on top of the list (10,801).
Vietnamese numbered 5,205, followed by Singapore (1,515), Indonesia (803), Malaysia (694), Thailand (327), Myanmar (103), Cambodia (39), and Brunei (21).
The island also welcomed 11,376 tourists from the North American continent, which include the United States of America (8,320), Canada (2,663), and Mexico (393).
A total of 4,960 arrivals were recorded from the Australian continent and south Pacific area, with Australia topping the list (4,317), followed by New Zealand (316), Papua New Guinea (315), and the United States territory of Guam (12).
From the Middle East (4,080), Boracay welcomed visitors from Israel (1,557), Saudi Arabia (1,200), Iran (219), Kuwait (158), Qatar (122), Bahrain (94), Oman (50), Egypt (36), Jordan (14), and Lebanon (12).
The Indian subcontinent also sent 1,690 visitors from the island, coming from India (1,146), Nepal (112), Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (66), and Sri Lanka (59).
Around 1,210 visitors were from South America, specifically from Venezuela (788), Brazil (201), Colombia (95), Argentina (89), and Peru (37).
Only two African countries had arrivals on the island – Nigeria (169) and South Africa (146).
Around 1,180 more foreign tourists were also recorded, but their areas of origin were unspecified or were not easily identified.
Boracay Island logged a total of 1.503 million tourist arrivals so far, according to the DOT-6’s data, with the greater bulk of it being domestic arrivals (1.38 million).
This is also separate from the recorded number of overseas Filipinos (30,895), which refers to Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad, excluding Overseas Filipino Workers.
DOT-6 Regional Director Cristine Mansinares told Daily Guardian via phone interview that aside from domestic arrivals mainly fueling Boracay’s tourist-driven economy, foreign arrivals included tourists who also visited other parts of the country before going to Boracay.
Mansinares also attributed the lagging foreign arrivals to limited international flights to Kalibo, as well as restrictions against outbound leisure travel in China, which is the island’s top contributing market in 2019 or before the pandemic, followed by South Korea, the United States, and Japan.
To boost tourist arrivals in the island, as well as the rest of Western Visayas, she cited three main strategies:
-strengthening tourism products and services;
-capacity-building of tourism-related stakeholders focused on the “Filipino Brand of Service” excellence; and
-close collaboration with local governments and private stakeholders in the implementation of tourism recovery initiatives.
In the advent of post-pandemic “revenge travel,” Mansinares is positive that the number of both foreign and domestic travel to Boracay Island will increase next year.
