Boracay reaches 1-million tourist target ahead of schedule

Boracay keeps beckoning. The tiny island known throughout the world hit its annual tourist arrival target of 1 million Friday afternoon, according to a report from Boracay-based multimedia group Boracay Informer.   The millionth visitor was South Korean Yuki Mau, who came to Boracay for the first time with her husband and two children, the report said. It seemed apt but also unsurprising that a Korean would grab the plum, as Koreans and their culture now seem to be everywhere. The Boracay Informer did not mention if Yuki started dancing Gangnam Style when officials swarmed her as she hit the beach as the millionth tourist. The local government initiated a countdown to the milestone once the arrivals reached 930,000 last September.   The bone-shaped isle with immaculate white sand beaches in Aklan province has already surpassed last year's total of 908,875.   Boracay's tourist arrivals are expected to reach 1.2 million by the end of the year.   Last July, readers of travelandleisure.com voted Boracay the "world's best island" in 2012, despite reports of overcrowding and the algae bloom along the beach, a sign of pollution. According to the annual World’s Best Awards of Travel + Leisure’s online version, Boracay bested other famous islands such as Bali in Indonesia, Maui in Hawaii, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Islands.