ILOILO CITY – A total of 177,860 tourists visited Boracay Island in Malay town, Aklan province in January this year.
Based on data released by the Malay Municipal Tourism Office, the arrivals in the country’s most famous beach destination in Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, dramatically grew by 97,860 or 222 percent compared to the same period last year.
Like in the previous months, about 130,715 of the total arrivals or 73.49 percent were domestic tourists, while 37,939 were foreign visitors (21.33 percent).
The remaining 5.17 percent or 9,206 were Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Last month’s spike in tourist arrivals was largely attributed to New Year’s celebration, wherein the resort island brought back its spectacular fireworks show.
There was also an influx of tourists as overspill from the recently concluded Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo town.
Meanwhile, Boracay is expecting more arrivals after it was named as one of the 50 Most Instagrammable Places in the World for this year by Big 7 Travel website.