The Economic Slowdown in Boracay

By: Gil delos Santos

 I always stress that a proper research could give us all the answers and solutions we need in Boracay. This can be done by a DMO or a Destination Management consultant which we always have recommended to LGU Malay. It could be hired under the office of the mayor as one of his executive arms. 

See my presentation to them during an SB session when we were invited as resource person when Boracay first felt the tourism decline in November of 2023.

While it's still in limbo, we want to share a bigger picture of the situation.

The loss of foreign tourists, which is identified as the high spenders and long staying guests have caused the economic slowdown in Boracay. Foreign decline is caused by many factors: 

(1) Over regulation (mainly complained by the korean market),
(2) Infrastructure issues,
(3) Accessibility and transfer inconveniences,
(4) Nuisance vendors,
(5) Tourist bad experiences,
(7) Lack of international travel ties,
(8) Lesser nightlife activities. 

With daytime activities, Boracay still has diverse offerings.

In another equation, over-development is the bigger UNSEEN factor to the total economic slowdown especially to the local MSMEs. Now is the era of low spending tourists or budgetarian travellers. The small players get a tiny slice in the whole pie. They are eaten up by big players who has the capacity for a bigger and wider marketing arm and ties.
Even if we reach the maximum carrying capacity limit of the island, it wouldn't be sufficient enough to cater all the 14,000 compliant hotel rooms plus the extra unpermitted establishments. There are thousand additional current rooms compared to the pre-rehabilitation numbers.
Boracay is majority represented by MSMEs. They are the gauge of the local economy — it's them who suffer most from all of this decline. The domination of big players and the over-development - that's what's killing them.