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Asiana cancels Pusan flights
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Posted on Jan 24 2001
Asiana has canceled its three times a week Pusan-Saipan flights last Jan. 12 due to low passenger demand on the island but has added three more direct Seoul-Saipan flights.
According to airline officials, passenger demand on Pusan-Saipan direct service during the regular season averages only 50 percent and increases only during weekends.
There are a total of 10 Seoul-Saipan direct flights on the island including the three additional flights every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
This bodes well for the CNMI since it has been having difficulty getting back its market share in Japan, the biggest source of tourists in the Northern Marianas.
MVA has been eyeing the honeymoon market in Korea which is projected to increase continuously as some 400,000 couples are expected to get married this year.
Many are expecting the CNMI to get a bigger share of the honeymoon market since the crash in neighboring island Guam is still fresh in the minds of many Koreans.
In a move to increase the CNMI’s market share in Korea, MVA held the first Marianas Tourism Academy for the Korean market last year. The tourism academy provides Korean tour operators and journalists an overview of what the CNMI offers as a destination.
MVA has already held its sixth Marianas Tourism Academy for the Japanese market in a bid to increase its visibility in Japan, its main source of visitors.
The decision to offer the tourism academy to Korean tour operators and visiting journalists was a result of the resurgence of the Korean market. Since last year, visitor arrivals from Korea has steadily increased mainly due to the recovery of the Korean economy which was severely battered during the regional crisis.
The pullout of Korean Air in August 1997 due to the tragic crash on nearby island Guam also contributed to the drastic decline in visitor arrivals from Korea.
Korea is the CNMI’s second biggest source of tourists. Korean Air used to ferry an average of 12,000 passengers a month. (LFR)
