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May’s hotel occupancy posts 63 percent spike
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Posted on Jun 09 2004
For the fourth consecutive month this year, hotel occupancy rates in the CNMI improved compared with their counterpart periods last year, which could indicate that the Commonwealth is sustaining recovery in the tourism sector.
The month of May posted an average hotel occupancy rate of 63.75 percent, which improved compared to May 2003’s 50.40 percent. This turnout developed even as the average room rate last month reached $79.32, slightly higher than May 2003’s $72.74.
This year, though, May’s hotel occupancy rate is the lowest compared to the previous months, the highest being February’s 82.03 percent, based on statistics released by the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands.
February’s occupancy surpassed the already high occupancy of 79.28 percent in Feb. 2003. During this time, the CNMI continued to benefit from visitors who diverted from Guam due to severe destruction caused by supertyphoon Pongsona on the federal territory in Dec. 2002. The average room rate in Feb. 2003 reached $87.76.
The HANMI previously recorded the average occupancy rate for April at 64.81 percent, increasing from April 2003’s 51.84 percent.
Occupancy rate in March reached 69.96 percent, higher than last year’s 63.69 percent. The average room rate in March slightly decreased to $79.33 compared to March 2003’s $82.43.
HANMI chairman Ronald Sablan earlier attributed the improvement in hotel occupancy to a rebounding tourism industry after tumultuous global events impacted on worldwide travel.
The HANMI is composed of 15 hotel members, which have a total room number of 2,588.
