THE tourist arrivals of Davao City will not be significantly affected by the closure of Boracay despite having a Davao-Caticlan direct flight, City Tourism and Operations Office (CTOO) assured.

During the Ispeak press conference held at the Davao City Hall conference room last Thursday, April 12, CTOO head Generose Tecson said there is minimum foot traffic for inbound passengers from Caticlan/Kalibo to Davao City.

“I would say right now, there is minimum effect [to Davao City]. There are not much tourists yet coming to Davao City directly from Boracay. So we are not much affected,” Tecson said.

The announcement of the 6-month closure of Boracay signaled the cancellation of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia Philippines of their flights from different key cities in the country direct to Caticlan/Kalibo. However, the three airlines offered free rebooking services for passengers whose flight would be affected by the 6-month closure.

In an earlier article published, AirAsia Philippines CEO Dexter Comendador said they will be affected of the closure as Boracay is a major tourist destination.

“A significant portion of airlines’ sales is from Boracay because it’s a major tourist destination. But we have prepared for this and we already put up plans on how to go about this temporary closure,” said Comendador adding that they also wish to promote other tourism destinations in the Philippines especially in Mindanao.

AirAsia Philippines had launched their Davao-Kalibo/Caticlan flight summer of last year.