Boracay Logs High Tourist Arrivals as Travel Restrictions Ease

As travel restrictions continue to ease, Boracay Island logs more than 30,000 arrivals in the island for this year as of October, hailing the island as the 2nd highest tourist visit for the year. The number of tourist arrivals for October 2021 is expected to rise until the end of the year since Boracay has eased travel protocols, removing the requirement of presenting a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for fully vaccinated individuals.

Currently, Boracay is slowly opening its doors to tourists and residents from Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, and Iloilo that have been fully vaccinated and are no longer required to comply with a negative swab test result. [1]

Last July this year, tourist arrivals showed an optimistic number. Still, they were halted during August when Aklan was placed under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine status or MECQ, and Boracay stopped accepting tourists to enter the island. [2] Strict travel restrictions were then implemented on the island and gradually became lenient as COVID-19 cases decreased.

For October 2021, data showed that 32,452 tourists had entered the world-renowned island of Boracay, and the Malay government is still expecting more tourist arrivals before this year ends. [3]

Malay Town Councilor Nenette Aguirre Graf observed that tourists love Boracay Island more. More so, during a press release, Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat is hopeful that more tourist arrivals will boost the tourism rate of Boracay as travel restrictions gradually continue to loosen.

As per specific data, the number of tourists coming from the National Capital Region or NCR shows the highest rate of arrivals on the island, with 15,322 visitors that arrived in Boracay. More male tourists went to Boracay, with 10,656 tourist arrivals. Meanwhile, female tourist arrivals in Boracay logged a total of 10,501 arrivals. [4]