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At 1.3M, Guam visitor arrivals break records
GUAM (Pacific News Center)—More than 1.3 million visitors came to Guam during fiscal year 2014, according to news release from the Governor’s Office.
This was the second consecutive year the island recorded that number of visitors. Overall arrivals for fiscal year 2014 reached 1,341,054—an increase over the last fiscal year. Since January 2014 Guam has welcomed 1,013,054 visitors.
“What’s even more amazing is that in spite of the triple disaster in March 2011, Guam Visitors Bureau and their tourism partners were able to stave off what initially was an anticipated large drop in visitor arrivals,” Gov. Eddie Calvo is quoted in the release. “We had all these things happening and yet we were able to do more than just maintain our numbers, we built them up.”
Guam has also been diversifying its tourism markets. While Japan arrivals were slightly down, arrivals from Korea and China increased by 20 percent and 89.1 percent respectively. Other markets that also saw growth in September include the U.S. mainland by 59.9 percent, Hawaii by 37.5 percent, Australia by 24 percent, and the Philippines by 3.9 percent.
Military activities have also had a positive impact on the tourism industry. Exercise Valiant Shield contributed to September’s upward trend, with Armed Forces Air Arrivals increasing by 127.3 percent.
