Boracay was a booming international resort before COVID-19. Now locals are enjoying it, some for the first time
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Some, like Cedrick Ungab, are enjoying their country’s most popular island for the first time. The tourist from Manila had heard all about Boracay’s infamous nightlife before he visited six months ago. But upon arrival, he realized that he liked the quiet. “It had more of a family vacation vibe,” Ungab tells TIME.Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWhat is happening in Boracay is being replicated in many other Asian tourism hotspots still emerging from the pandemic.
Many of the island’s 4,000 licensed businesses have nimbly adjusted to the change in customers. Cris Cahilig manages a hole-in-the-wall burger joint called Two Brown Boys, which used to cater to international travelers. Now, over 95% of her clientele is local. “We had to pivot to stay in business,” she says. “We added rice bowls to the menu and started offering breakfast.” She also put on a Filipino DJ, who knew what tunes the new customers wanted to hear.
Kiteboarding enthusiasts in Bulabog town in Boracay, Aklan, the Philippines, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.Foreign tourists were only permitted in Boracay from February this year, and they have been returning in slowly increasing numbers, but visitors from the two biggest markets—South Korea and China—are thin on the ground, especially the latter. China’sdeters residents from traveling overseas because of the onerous re-entry requirements they face on their return.
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