Iloilo City—New flights from mainland China will bring passengers to world-famous Boracay in Aklan more than a month after the resort island reopened to tourists.
Since its October 26 reopening, tourists are gradually coming back to Boracay Island. The government assures that policies will be improved to sustain the work to save the popular resort island from further environmental degradation. (Tara Yap / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Helen Catalbas, Western Visayas regional director of Department of Tourism (DOT), said OK Airways will start flying to Kalibo, the provincial capital, on Dec. 7.
While there’s an airport across Boracay, these flights will have routes from the cities of Nanning and Changsha to Kalibo.
Catalbas told Manila Bulletin the Nanning-Kalibo, Changsha-Kalibo and vice versa flights were facilitated by DOT’s attaché in Shanghai.
The new flights are expected to strengthen ties with China and support DOT’s national target to welcome 1.5 million Chinese tourists.
More than 300,000 Chinese tourists visisted Boracay last year. China ranks second to South Koreans in terms of foreign tourist arrivals.
Catalbas said the flights of OK Airways mean that Boracay will be accessible to Chinese who live in cities outside Beijing.
To better cater to Chinese tourists, DOT has trained Boracay’s tour guides, hotel staff and transport operators to be able to speak basic Mandarin.
By Tara Yap