Boracay update: how the Philippine tourist island is coping as Covid-19 disruption drags on

Business at the popular tourist destination is still struggling and staff have been laid off, despite the best efforts of its resilient resort and bar owners

Only 3,703 people arrived between December 1 and 12 – fewer visitors to the island than in a single day before the pandemic struck

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Domestic tourists at White Beach in Boracay, the Philippines in October. The popular tourist destination has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and domestic visitor numbers are too low to sustain many businesses. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 5:45pm, 22 Dec 2020Updated: 6:57pm, 22 Dec 2020

As with just about every other destination reliant on tourism, the economy of the Philippine island of Boracay has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In August, Patrick Cuartero, a managing partner at cocktail bar Prisma Boracay, told the South China Morning Post that he wasn’t sure how long business owners on the island would be able to survive.

“I’ve already heard of many businesses shuttering. I’d only give it a few more months before things get critical,” he said.

Since then, the island, which has managed to remain Covid-free, has reopened to domestic visitors.

Staff sit outside an empty souvenir shop next to other closed shops in Boracay in October. Photo: Getty Images

“Tourists – mostly locals and Manila-based expats – are starting to trickle in slowly,” says Maffi DeParis, the hotel and restaurant manager at DeParis Beach Resort. “It’s been fun to watch them enjoy the island during its most pristine and quiet December in decades.”

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