Local and foreign tourists disembarking pumpboat in Cagban, Boracay Island resort to spend the holiday season, enjoy the clear blue water and “polvoron” sugary sand of Boracay Island.
Tourist arrivals from January to November of this year in Boracay Island Resort has already passed the half-million mark. Based on records from the Provincial Tourism Office, Kalibo, Aklan, some 577,868 total number of tourists visited the island within the 11-month period. Translated into tourism receipts, money generated from the visits of foreign, domestic and overseas Filipinos is pegged at P10.6 billion.
The figures are seen to improve still, as there is one month more left of 2008. Many more visitors are expected to visit the island especially during this Christmas and New Year holidays.
The records show 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. The biggest number of foreign tourists flocked to the island in August with 19,468, while domestic tourists were on their biggest number in April with 66,846 arrivals, and the Overseas Filipinos in February with 22,182.
Records of the Provincial Tourism Office which monitors 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 percent; 2005 – 14 percent, 2006 – 10 percent and 2007 – 6 percent.
In 2006 and 2007, tourist arrivals in Boracay also surpassed the half-million mark with 556,084 and 596,748 respectively.
Aklan Governor Carlito S. Marquez expects tourist arrivals in Aklan to reach the one million mark in 2010. /MP
No comments:
Post a Comment