Some resorts on the island, famed for its long stretch of white beach and crystal clear waters, are offering discounts on room accommodations of up to 50 percent, said Loubelle Cann, president of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), a group of business owners on the island.
Cann said resorts and hotels usually offer discounts from 20 to 30 percent during the off-peak season from June to October. But several resorts have extended much lower rates after they reported cancellations of reservations of tourists from Hong Kong and China.
“Certainly the incident in Manila was an isolated case because we are very peaceful and safe. But we still have to deal with canceled bookings,” Cann told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Sunday.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) in Western Visayas earlier reported that at least 500 tourists from Hong Kong and China have called off their trip to Boracay after eight Hong Kong tourists died in a botched rescue operation at Quirino Grandstand.
The initial losses due to the cancellations in the few hotels who have so far reported reached at least P15 million. Around 60,000 tourists from China and Hong Kong visit Western Visayas, mostly Boracay, each year, according to the DOT.
Cann, owner of the Tonglen Beach Resort, said the lower rates coupled with the good weather on the island would hopefully bring in more tourists to offset those that had backed out.
She said they have asked airlines to complement the lower accommodation rates by also offering discounts in airfares going to the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan and Caticlan, the jump off point to Boracay.
The “black alert” issued by Hong Kong advising its residents against going to the country has so far not affected tourists from other countries.
Cann said guests from other Asian countries like South Korea and Taiwan and Europe continue to come to the island.
“We hope the domestic tourists will make up for whatever drop in bookings from China and Hong Kong until the situation improves,” she said.
David Goldberg, vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.-Boracay, however, said they have so far not monitored canceled bookings due to the hostage-taking incident among their resorts and hotels.
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