Luzon tourists revive Boracay tourism

MANILA, Philippines — Tourists from Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces awakened Boracay from its summer stupor as visitor arrivals on the island reached 9,000 in the first two weeks of this month.

The Malay Tourism Office yesterday reported that a total of 9,066 visitors arrived in Boracay from June 1 to 13.

During the period, nine in every 10 visitors came from either Metro Manila or Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.

Metro Manila registered close to two-thirds of the total arrivals with 5,772, followed by Southern Tagalog with 1,948 and Central Luzon, 614.

Western Visayas, where Boracay is located, accounted for 418 of the arrivals.

Airline companies benefited from the return of leisure trips to the island.

A total of 8,186 or more than 90 percent of the visitors booked a flight to Boracay.

Arrivals from June 1 to June 13 beat the combined figures recorded in April and May by nearly threefolds.

Since the reopening last year, Boracay welcomed 2,630 visitors in October, 4,154 in November, 15,307 in December, 11,898 in January, 16,487 in February and 17,400 in March.

The island‘s tourism suffered when the National Capital Region and four adjacent provinces were reverted to the strictest quarantine status – the enhanced community quarantine – from March 29 to April 11 and to modified ECQ from April 12 to May 14.

Tourists headed to Boracay must present a negative RT-PCR or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test result and travel documents.

The provincial government last week enforced a curfew in Boracay from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to prevent midnight social gatherings.

The island observes a liquor ban and bars are not yet allowed to reopen.