Study: Slump to last into 2000

The Northern Marianas will continue to feel the effects of Asia’s financial crisis until the year 2000 but inspite of the decline in tourist arrivals, tourism and related services remain the comparative economic advantage of the CNMI, according to an airport study conducted by Ricondo & Associates, an Ohio-based consultancy firm.

“While the Asian economy has experienced a recent downturn which is anticipated take at least one to two years to recover from, the economy is projected t continue to have the highest Gross Domestic Product,” the study said.

Overall, the world gross domestic product is projected to increase at 2.9 percent per year over the next 10 years. Likewise, the average annual compounded growth rate for the gross domestic product for China is projected to be 7.3 percent and 4.8 percent for Southeast Asia, thus, air travel demand in the region should improve over the long-term.

Amid the downtrend recession besetting Japan, the CNMI’s main market, the depreciation of the Japanese yen will continue to result in short-term decreases in the number of tourists coming to the island.

“The future recovery of the yen will also result in a restoration of passenger demand levels at the airport, however, at lower levels than was experienced over the past decade,” the study said.

Based on the study, the CNMI could be considered in a more advantageous position than Guam with a newly refocused marketing effort and since it can promote three distinctly different islands as tourist destinations.

Traffic levels record show that the Northern Marianas, particularly Saipan, has the infrastructure to support a thriving tourist based economy. However, the study noted that the financial crisis besetting the region demonstrates the susceptibility of the CNMI in the economic downturn of the Asian countries.

To prove that the CNMI is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the Western Pacific, globally known hotel and resort chains have expressed interest to enter the tourism market in the Northern Marianas.

Although Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino will attract visitors, the CNMI government will have to address the limited resources and basic infrastructure on the island-municipality so that it can support potential growth and development, the study said.

Among the factors that indicate Tinian will be popular as a gaming destination include the limited number of casinos in the region, hesitancy to expand or legalize it in other countries and the Asian market has more premium “high roller” gamblers.