Japanese arrivals down 19.65 %

The significant drop in Japanese arrivals to the CNMI in November following the pullout of Japan Airlines’ regular flights to Saipan in October has resulted in an overall decline in the Commonwealth’s tourism industry.

Amid reports that some tourism players have closed down or downsized their local operations, reports have been circulating around the island that Saipan’s DFS Galleria has furloughed an undetermined number of employees.

DFS Galleria general manager Mark Sullivan referred inquiries about the reported furlough to the company’s president, Marian Aldan-Pierce, who could not be reached at press time to confirm the reports.

With only 21,893 Japanese visiting the islands in November, total tourist arrivals for the month reached only 35,267, declining by 19.65 percent—or 8,623 tourists—from November 2004’s 43,890. Japanese tourists, the CNMI’s top market, totaled 30,454 in November 2004 and dived by 28 percent this month.

The Marianas Visitors Authority tallied a total of 468,493 tourist arrivals from various markets from January to November this year, 67,380 arrivals less to equal the 2004 total of 535,873.

The significant drop in Japanese tourists visiting the islands outweighed the growth by the Korean market, the CNMI’s second biggest tourist group. A total of 6,503 Korean visitors went to the CNMI in November, 38 percent higher than November 2004’s 4,723 Korean tourists.

The MVA attributed the growth in Korean arrivals to increased seating capacity of Asiana Airlines and enhanced promotions.

“Instead of 26-seat capacity, Asiana Airlines is using a bigger aircraft with a 310-airline seats configuration,” said MVA managing director Vicky Benavente.

Benavente also said that an array of golf packages to the CNMI has attracted avid golfers from Korea. She said travel plans to play golf in the CNMI significantly increased in November 2005 by approximately 41.04 percent compared to November 2004.

“Our office implemented a joint online promotion with GS-eshop, a popular shopping mall site. Approximately 7 million shopping mall members were informed about this online promotion, which resulted to 50,000 members signing up for the contest,” Benavente said.

November also saw an increase in Chinese arrivals, which registered at 3,144 tourists. The MVA considered China as the top performer for the month, as it posted a 17-percent growth compared to November 2004’s 2,687.

Most of the CNMI’s tourist market, though, slid down along with the Japanese market. Visitors from Hong Kong went down from November 2004’s 355 to 101 last month; Taiwanese visitors last month only numbered 15, 95 percent lower than November 2004’s 329.

Even arrivals from the United States dropped by almost half of November 2004’s 2,055 to only 1,042 last month. Arrivals from Guam went down by 19 percent from November 2004’s 2,388 to 1,941.

Tourists from the Philippines dropped by 57 percent from 478 to 206 last month.