Boracay’s total number of visitor arrivals last year registered 649,559, based on data released by the Provincial Tourism Office here.
The visitor arrivals – composed of 192,873 foreign tourists, 432,271 domestic and 24,415 Overseas Filipinos generated a total of P11,941,102,920.60 tourism receipts.
Foreign visitors’ arrival in the island was biggest in the month of January with 23,161. They also came in big numbers in August with 21,428 and in December last year with 18,987. They were smallest in number June of 2009 with 10,415.
On the other hand, domestic tourists were biggest in number in April with 75,161; May with 68,837 and March, with 41,007. They were smallest in number in August with 22,445.
January was the preferred month of Overseas Filipinos to go to the island, with 4,283 arrivals; February, 2,735 and March, 2,263. They were scarce however, in the month of September, with 579 only who visited the island.
In 2008, visitor arrivals reached 634,263, which generated P11,659,910,434.20 in tourism receipts.
The tourist arrivals in Boracay Island in 2009, which breached the half-million mark, contributed a big portion to the country’s tourist arrivals.
Based on records, tourist arrivals in the country from January to September last year is at 5.2 million. The same period in 2000 had 1.99 million tourist arrivals.
The big number of tourist arrivals in 2009 made businesses thrive, created more jobs and livelihood opportunities for Filipinos, and generated more investments.
Tourism investments also reached P555 billion from 2004-2009, which drove the growth of the country’s tourism sector and created more jobs, enabling Filipinos to live better lives.
by Venus G. Villanueva
Philippine Information Agency
