Boracay ([bɔˈrakaɪ]; often locally shortened to Bora) is a resort island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located 0.8 kilometers (0.50 mi) off the northwest coast of Panay Island. It has a total land area of 10.32 square kilometers (3.98 sq mi), under the jurisdiction of three barangays in Malay, Aklan, and had a population of 37,802 in 2020.[2]
Boracay was originally inhabited by the Tumandok and Ati people, but commercial development has led to their severe marginalization since the 1970s.[1][3]
Apart from its white sand beaches, Boracay is also famous for being one of the world's top destinations for relaxation.[4][5] As of 2013[update], it was emerging among the top destinations for tranquility and nightlife.[6]
International travel magazine Travel + Leisure ranked Boracay as the Best Island in the World in 2012.[7][8] In 2014, the resort island was at the top of the "Best Islands in the World" list published by the international magazine Condé Nast Traveler.[9] In 2016, Boracay headed the magazine's list of "Top 10 destinations to watch".[10]
In April 2018, the Philippine government,under President Rodrigo Duterte, decreed a six-month closure of the island for tourists to undertake major renovation works, especially of the sewage system, which had become obsolete and insufficient.[11] The island was administered by the Boracay Inter-agency Task Force during the closure.[a] It reopened in October 2018, with a new set of rules meant to address a variety of issues.[14][15]
The Boracay Ati-atihan in January 2024 witnessed a record-breaking number of tourists, with 36,741 people participating in the event. This festival, which celebrates the cultural heritage of the Ati indigenous people, has been a major draw for tourists and is set to be elevated as a major tourism attraction for the island starting next year.[16]
The name Boracay is attributed to different origins. The island's indigenous Ati people say that the name of the island came from the Inati words "bora", meaning bubbles, and "bocay", meaning white.[17] Another theory suggests that the name is derived from the local word 'borac,' which means 'white cotton,' referencing the color and texture of Boracay's white, sugary, and powdery sand.[18] Yet another version dating back to the Spanish era says the name is derived from "sagay", the word for a shell, and "boray", the word for seed.[18]
Before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines in the 16th century, Boracay was populated by Ati people. It was known to the Iberian conquerors as Buracay. At the time of contact with the Europeans, Buracay had a population of one hundred people, who cultivated rice on the island and augmented their income by raising goats.[19]
The Tumandok people also established an indigenous presence on the island,[20][better source needed] although the identities of the two indigenous peoples is often conflated.[citation needed] A 1905 report by the Philippine Commission documented the continuing presence of both groups on the island. referred to there as "Buracay".[21]
Boracay was previously part of the province of Capiz. It was under the jurisdiction of the town of Buruanga until the municipality of Malay was established on June 15, 1949.[22] The municipality, as well as the island, became part of Aklan, which became an independent province on April 25, 1956.[23][24][25]
Before the advent of tourism, Boracay was largely an agricultural community.[26] Around 1910, Sofía Gonzáles Tirol and her husband Lamberto Hontiveros Tirol (a town judge on the Panay mainland) took ownership of substantial properties on the island. They planted coconuts, fruit trees and greenery. Others followed the Tirols, and cultivation and development of the island gradually spread.[27] The production of copra and fishing were major industries in the island.
However, due to overharvesting by fishers and the destruction of coral reef due to cyanide fishing, the fishing industry saw a decline. By the 1980s, the price of copra had declined, encouraging tourism as an alternative source of income for the island.[26]
In 1978, President Ferdinand Marcos issued a proclamation naming Boracay among a number of islands, coves and peninsulas declared as tourist zones.[28]
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Tourism came to the island beginning sometime in the 1970s.[29][30] In 1970, the movies Nam's Angels (released in the U.S. as The Losers) and Too Late the Hero used filming locations on Boracay and Caticlan.[31] There was an influx of Western tourists after German writer Jens Peter called it "paradise on Earth" in his book about the Philippines in 1978.[32][33] In the 1980s, the island became popular as a budget destination for backpackers.[23] By the 1990s, Boracay's beaches were being acclaimed as the best in the world.[34] However, in 1997, tourist arrivals to the resort island dropped 60 percent due to the increase of coliform bacteria from poor sewage and septic systems on the island.[35]
The condition of Boracay in 1997 led to the installment of a potable water supply system and a sewage treatment plant and a solid waste disposal system, operated by the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA). Connection of businesses and households to the system was not universal, and environmental problems persisted.[35]
Then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared Boracay a Special Tourism Zone in 2005, and in April 2006 she gave the PTA administrative control over the island while mandating the agency to coordinate with the provincial government of Aklan.[35]
In 2012, the Philippine Department of Tourism reported that Boracay had been named the world's second best beach after Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands.[36]
Due to worsening environmental conditions in Boracay, President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2018 said he planned to close the resort island, which he described as a "cesspool", on April 26, 2018, instructing Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to resolve the issue.[37] In a cabinet meeting, President Duterte approved the full closure of the island for six months, effective April 26, 2018, to rehabilitate and resolve the environmental issues surrounding Boracay.[38] On May 30, 2018, President Duterte declared that he planned to make the entire Boracay a land reform area and wanted to first prioritize the island's residents.[39][40]
In April 2018, the Philippine Army's 301st Infantry Brigade confirmed that 200 soldiers were deployed to Boracay to secure the island during its shutdown starting April 26.[41]
On October 26, 2018, Boracay was reopened to the public with work on the island's infrastructure still in progress.[42] In April 2019, numerous Chinese-owned businesses were opened in Boracay,[43] and additionally, there are about 300 mainland Chinese residents.[44] In April 2019, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that the Department of Labor and Employment has no control over foreign businesses setting up shop on the island, but that it vows to ensure that no Chinese national could take jobs fit for Filipinos.[44][45]
Efforts to maintain the pristine condition of the beaches and the introduction of environmentally-friendly practices such as the use of biodegradable products and electric tricycles have significantly contributed to the island's recovery. The absence of plastic and a renewed focus on sustainability were key highlights of introduced in 2023.[46]
Following the Boracay cleanup, Duterte distributed 623 certificates of land-ownership award covering 274 hectares (680 acres) of land in Boracay and Aklan to the area's Ati inhabitants and other beneficiaries.[47]
The municipality of Malay, including Boracay island, was closed to tourism effective March 19, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[48] The island would eventually be re-opened to tourists with COVID-19 protocols implemented as cautionary measure.[49][50][51]
Under the Bongbong Marcos administration in late March 2024, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), upon the request of private land developers, cancelled the Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) of five lots in Boracay owned by Ati indigenous peoples. The lots, which were awarded by the Duterte administration to the Ati members in 2018, had been barricaded by armed men, who cited a March 5, 2024 decision by the DAR concluding that the land awarded was "not suitable for agriculture". The Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO) later urged the Commission on Human Rights to intervene in the dispute, leading DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III to order the distribution of land to the affected Ati members, albeit to a yet undisclosed location.[52][53]
Boracay Island is located 0.8 kilometers (0.50 mi) off the northwest corner of the mainland Panay and belongs to the province of Aklan in the Western Visayas region, or Region VI, of the Philippines. It is 50 kilometers (31 mi) northwest of the provincial capital, Kalibo; 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of the regional capital, Iloilo City; and 200 nautical miles (370 km) southeast of the national capital, Manila. The island is approximately seven kilometers long, dog-bone shaped, with the narrowest spot being less than one kilometer wide, and has a total land area of 10.32 square kilometers (3.98 sq mi).
South-facing Cagban Beach is located across a small strait from the jetty port at Caticlan on Panay Island, and the Cagban jetty port serves as Boracay's main entry and exit point during most of the year. When wind and sea conditions dictate, east-facing Tambisaan Beach serves as an alternative entry and exit point.[54]Boracay's two primary tourism beaches, White Beach and Bulabog Beach, are located on opposite sides of the island's narrow central area. White Beach faces westward and Bulabog Beach faces eastward. The island also has several other beaches.
White Beach, the main tourism beach, is about 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) long and is lined with resorts, hotels, lodging houses, restaurants, and other tourism-related businesses. In the central portion, for about two kilometers, there is a footpath known as the Beachfront Path separating the beach itself from the establishments located along it. North and south of the Beachfront Path, beachfront establishments do literally front along the beach itself. Several roads and paths connect the Beachfront Path with Boracay's Main Road, a vehicular road which runs the length of the island. At the extreme northern end of White Beach, a footpath runs around the headland there and connects White Beach with Diniwid Beach.[b]
Bulabog Beach, across the island from White Beach, is the second most popular tourism beach on the island and Boracay's main windsurfing and kiteboarding area.
Boracay is divided for land use and conservation purposes into 400 hectares (990 acres) of preserved forestland and 628.96 hectares (1,554.2 acres) of agricultural land.[56][57][58][59][60][61]
The three barangays comprising Boracay island, Balabag, Manoc-Manoc, and Yapak, are part of the municipality of Malay in the province of Aklan.
Weather in Boracay is generally divided i