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Tour agents key in luring Chinese, Korean tourists
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Posted on Dec 25 2004
Tour agents play a key role in motivating Chinese tourists to visit the Northern Marianas, while Japanese tourists tend to be more independent in making their travel plans, according to a visitor profile report by the Marianas Visitors Authority.
MVA data showed that 96 percent of the 29,238 travelers from China in fiscal year 2004 said tour agents encouraged them to come to the islands.
On the other hand, only 25 percent of the 384,531 Japanese tourists that visited the CNMI picked tour agents as their key travel motivation. Short flight time (24 percent) was cited as the second top selection, followed by the climate (22 percent).
Travel agents was also ranked by Korean visitors as the top factor in selecting the CNMI as their destination, with 51 percent making the choice. “Friends and relatives” (15 percent) was the second popular choice, followed by prior trip (10 percent).
The visitors’ response to the travel motivation question is reflected in statistics concerning travel arrangement.
Of the Chinese tourists surveyed throughout the fiscal year, 92 percent said they came to the islands on a tour package. Only 2 percent said their trip was individually arranged, while 1.5 percent said they were on a company/business trip.
Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of the Chinese visitors said they traveled with a tour group, 4 percent with their spouse, and 3 percent with business associates.
It is estimated that 60 percent of Japanese tourists visited the islands on a tour package. About 14 percent said they were on a company or business trip, and 11 percent arranged their own trip.
A huge percentage of Japanese tourists traveled with friends (44 percent). Spouse (21 percent) was ranked second on the list of travel companions, followed by business associates (20 percent).
Packaged tour and individually arranged tour shared the same percentage (41 percent) as the top two selections of Korean tourists in travel arrangements to the CNMI.
Another 7 percent said they came to the islands on a company/business trip.
Of the Korean tourists surveyed, 41 percent traveled with their spouse, 22 percent with their children, and 20 percent with friends.
