‘Collaboration from Delta, major Japanese travel agents needed’

Despite the consistent increase in visitor arrival numbers in the last few months, the tally coming from the CNMI’s original source market, Japan, is dropping at a fast clip.

Marianas Visitors Authority board chair Marian Aldan-Pierce said that MVA is collaborating with Delta Airlines and major Japanese travel agents to pick the market back up.

“We have several programs in the works through our Japan office to increase visitor arrivals from Japan. One significant effort is in collaboration with Delta and the major Japanese travel agents to increase utilization of Delta flights during the summer period,” Aldan-Pierce said.

“The intent of this campaign is to demonstrate to Delta that there is strong interest among our key partners to reinstate DL 288 immediately following its November and December suspension,” she added.

The Japan market is expected to go down further, as Delta Air Lines will reduce its flights to Saipan this winter. The peak of Japanese arrivals to the CNMI was in 2005 with 352,099 visitors, just before Japan Airlines cancelled flights to the Commonwealth.

The lack of airlift to replace the loss of Japan Airlines service from Osaka and Narita and the loss of Delta Air Lines service from Nagoya meant that CNMI arrival numbers from Japan have fallen steadily since then.

The Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the consumption tax hike in April 2014 also significantly impacted Japanese visitor numbers, reaching a low of 110,234 visitors to the CNMI last year.

“The MVA in the CNMI, Japan, and in Korea are working in close collaboration with hoteliers and Osaka travel agents to build a strong case for Jeju Air to launch a flight from Osaka to Saipan. The determination will be made by Jeju headquarters in Seoul, Korea. We continue to reach out to other airlines including low cost carriers,” Aldan-Pierce said.

Securing low-cost carriers that will fly to the Commonwealth and adding more hotel rooms is the key to boosting Japanese arrivals to the islands.

Aside from Delta pulling out, Asiana Airlines has also reduced its flights to just once daily.

“The decision of Asiana Air Lines to suspend OZ 623 from Seoul to Saipan was due to an equipment shortage following the incident in Hiroshima. Prior to the official announcement of the suspension, the MVA appealed for Asiana’s reconsideration and Asiana has since announced that they will be using a Boeing 747 four days and a A330 the remaining three days for its night flights for the month of June in order to recover lost capacity,” Aldan-Pierce said.

The CNMI is expecting new developments from Best Sunshine Int. Ltd., Honest Profit, the opening of Kensington Hotel (former Palms Resort), along with other hotels going online, despite another possible decline on tourism.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan and HANMI president Gloria Cavanagh have also expressed concern on the increasing developments and included the needed air service as our main transportation.

“We have seen a fluctuation of air service this fiscal year as we always do, as capacity adjustments by airlines are a natural part of the industry. That said, the MVA continues to project an increase in visitor arrivals for fiscal year 2015,” Aldan-Pierce said.

“The CNMI travel industry does not live in a vacuum and regional or global factors beyond our control have a significant influence on airlift and arrivals. We have seen our share of events that have negatively impacted travel demand to our islands; the price of oil, economic crisis in source countries, the fluctuation of the U.S dollar versus foreign currencies, health scars such as SARS, Ebola, and more recently MERS,” she said.

“All these significantly influence travel to the CNMI. The reverse is also true. The stable economies of China and Korea for example have contributed to huge increases in arrivals from these two key source countries. The MVA fully understands the critical importance of air service as the primary vehicle to bring tourists to our islands and this is top of mind at MVA headquarters and in our offshore offices,” she said.

Aldan-Pierce also said that although the government fully appreciates the massive impact of tourism on the economy, regarding development of any kind, various government agencies play a crucial role in the process and as it relates to their mandate.

“Those mandates or objectives are there for a reason. Anyone investing in our islands will understand this as the same applies in their home country. Tourism is a labor-intensive industry. We knew that the proposed zeroing out of foreign workers is unrealistic given the small labor population in our islands. The administration is painfully aware of this imminent threat to the tourism industry and efforts to address this concern are ongoing,” she said.