Boracay gets European fillip

BORACAY ISLAND, AKLAN—As if making up for lost time, stir-crazy foreign tourists came rushing to pack the resort island this February.

Per Malay Tourism Office, most of these 163 tourists who visited from 1 to 20 February were from European countries.

Six came from Australia; three each from Norway, Russia, Czech Republic, France and Belgium; seven, Germany; two each from Sweden and Switzerland; one each coming from Poland, Iceland, Ireland and Spain. With the inclusion of the foreign tourists, Boracay logged 47,308 visitors from February 1- February 20.

For several years, it’s been a challenge for European tourists to visit Boracay because of long hours of travel. Aside from European tourists, other foreign tourists were from Asia, Middle East and the US.

European tourists are considered valuable for the economy because they are “good spenders”.

Earlier, Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Rumulo-Puyat announced that Boracay is now ready to accept foreign tourists. Boracay, a premier beach destination, has been closed to foreign tourists in the middle of 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Puyat said they consider Boracay as one of the priorities for promotion because of its potential of attracting both foreign and local tourists.

For his part, Dionisio Salme, past president of a business organization here, said they are ready for tourist inflow in Boracay: “With the health protocols in place, we hope that the travel of tourists to and from Boracay will be seamless.”