Boracay still bars entry of foreigners

 The new UK variant that affected several returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW) has further delayed the plan of the province of Aklan in opening Boracay island to foreign tourists.

Expressing his concern, Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores said that this could mean that opening the island to foreign tourists may yet happen next year.

Earlier, the Department of Health has announced that some 62 Filipinos, many of whom were OFW, had been infected by the coronavirus variant in the country.

“If not for this new Covid-19 variant, the province is ready to accept foreign tourists. It could just be noted that since Boracay has opened to domestic tourists since last year, no tourists have acquired the Covid-19 after they travelled to Boracay,” he said.

Prior to the pandemic, Boracay has received numerous direct flights coming from China and South Korea via the Kalibo International Airport.

Currently, there are several foreign tourists that have been sighted on Boracay island, however, all of them have already been residing in the country for several years now.

Based from the records of the Malay tourism office from 1 to 20 February this year, Boracay has already recorded 11,278 tourist arrival, where some 7,200 of came from the National Capital Region.