Boracay Island welcomes its second visiting cruise ship for this month and the fourth for this year, carrying 2,700 guests and crew on Tuesday.

The MS Westerdam cruise ship of the Holland America Line came four days after the MV Norwegian Jewel of the Norwegian Cruise Line and docked on the island with 1,600 guests.

“The arrival is considered an excursion since they only stay for a few hours. But this would add to our marketing, hoping they would come back after their experience in Boracay,” Malay tourism officer Felix Gregorio Delos Santos said in a phone interview.

Among their itineraries, he said, is going to shops where they can buy local products and island hopping, adding to the town’s economic activities.

Delos Santos said tourist arrivals in Boracay Island have surpassed the 1.8-million target for 2023.

Data from the municipal tourism office showed that from January to October, 1,791,594 tourists visited the island. With the addition of 26,030 tourists from Nov. 1-5, the arrivals reached 1,817,624.

“Our projected tourist arrival for this year is 1.8 million. We hope and pray that we sustain our 100,000 tourist arrivals in a month. I am positive that we can get back the two million tourist arrivals,” Delos Santos added.

In 2022, Boracay catered to 1,759,592 tourists, which was surpassed this year as early as October. (PNA)