More tourists are expected to visit Boracay this year as the Kalibo Airport opens its doors to more international flights and tourists from Taiwan and mainland China.

The Kalibo Airport in Aklan province is one of the gateways to Boracay, the country’s top beach destination.

Taipei-based Mandarin Airlines has launched its first direct flight to Kalibo Saturday to give Taiwanese tourists easier access to Boracay, which is an ideal vacation spot for Taiwanese because of its proximity.

“With fuel prices soaring these days, the air ticket prices are higher to Japan, Korea, North America, and Europe. Southeast Asia is thus a very good choice for passengers who want a very reasonable price,” said Mandarin Airlines’ Richard Ma.

“The Philippines is a very good choice. Thailand is also competitive, but we believe that service attitude, service standards of Filipinos are very good,” he said.

The next six consecutive flights of Mandarin Airlines are fully booked.

The airline will fly twice a week to Kalibo, which becomes its fourth destination in the country.

Taiwan visitors comprise the third biggest number of tourists in the Philippines, after Koreans and Americans.

According to Mandarin Airlines officials, they plan to increase their flights but limitations of the Kalibo airport had to be considered.

Local officials assured though that improvements in Kalibo Airport are now under way to make it adhere to international standards.

“The first phase is to expand the Kalibo terminal. The next phase in 2009 is lengthening of runway, because the present runway is 2,100 meters, which is quite tiny. International standards require 2,500 meters. Next year, the project is to extend the runway to another 400 meters to the sea,” said Aklan Rep. Joeben Miraflores.

“Initially, we were a little bit surprised by this tiny airport. We were afraid that we will not have enough space here because we have 160 passengers. But with the help of airport officials, we did very good,” Ma said.

An estimated P1 billion is needed for the upgrade of the airport.

Although the completion may take at least two years or more, more international airlines are expected to fly to Kalibo in the coming months, one of which is the Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines.

Around half a million tourists visited Boracay in 2007, and the local government expects this figure to double this year since the island’s visitors have already reached seven hundred thousand for just the first four months of the year. — Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News

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