Boracay visitor arrivals surpass half-million mark
KALIBO, AKLAN -- Boracay Island's tourist arrivals from January to November of this year has already surpassed the half-million mark.
Based on records released by the Provincial Tourism Office here, total number of tourists who visited the island within the 11-month period has reached 577,868. Translated into tourism receipts, money generated from the visits of foreign, domestic and overseas Filipinos is pegged at P10,623,178,591.20 billion.
The figures are seen to improve still, as there is one month more left of 2008, and many more are still expected to visit the island especially during this year's long Christmas holidays.
Based on the records, domestic tourists had the biggest number with 351,890 for the 11-month period, followed by foreign tourists with 178,412 and Overseas Filipinos, 47,566.
Foreign tourists flocked to the island with the biggest number in August with 19,468, while domestic tourists were on their biggest number in April with 66,846 arrivals. Overseas Filipinos, on the other hand, were at their biggest number in February with 22,182.
Records of the Provincial Tourism Office, which also monitored the movement of tourism receipts through comparative statistics, show that since 2004, the growth rate is on the uptrend, with 2004 having the biggest at 20%; 2005, 14%; 2006, 10%, and 2007, 6%.
In 2006 and 2007, tourist arrivals in the island also surpassed the half-million mark with 556,084 and 596,748 respectively.
Aklan expects its tourist arrivals to reach the 1 million mark in 2010. (PIA)