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Hotel occupancy posts growth this September
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Posted on Oct 07 2004
Hotel occupancy rate in September increased to an average of 79.33 percent, the highest for the month in the last eight years.
Local hotels have maintained consecutive growth in occupancy rate since February this year, compared with their counterpart months last year. The average room rate last month also increased—albeit slight—at $78.05, higher than September 2003’s average room rate of $75.
Byung Kyu Park, the Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas Islands’ acting chair, described the slight increase in room rate as “a good sign” for the CNMI’s hotel industry.
Despite the growth in hotel occupancy rate, however, Park conservatively stated that it would be “too early to say” if the CNMI’s tourism economy has recovered.
He noted, though, the increase in the number of Japanese and Chinese tourists staying in local hotels.
September’s occupancy rate went up from September 2003’s 71.64 percent. HANMI statistics showed that the lowest occupancy rate for the month was in 2001—when international travel suffered from the 9/11 terrorist attacks—posting only 47.88 percent.
The September 2004 figure improved compared with the figures recorded for the same month beginning 1997, when occupancy rate was about 77.92 percent. Hotel occupancy went through a roller-coaster change since then, recording 52.78 percent in 1998; 60.89 percent in 1999; 62.79 percent in 2000; and 64.06 percent in 2002.
As for the average monthly room rate, this year’s figure went down compared with Sept. 2001’s $80.41. In Sept. 2002, room rates averaged at $74.68.
HANMI statistics represents over 2,500 rooms in 14 Saipan hotels—Hotel Regency Saipan, Hotel Nikko Saipan, Dai-Ichi Hotel, Pacific Islands Club, World Resort Saipan, Saipan Grand Hotel, Marianas Resort Hotel, Aqua Resort Club, Aquarius Beach Tower, Coral Ocean Point, Century Hotel, Chalan Kanoa Beach Club, Saipan Ocean View Hotel, and Pacific Gardenia Hotel.
