Tourism slump eases • Visitor arrivals slightly up 2 percent for the first time after months of decline

After showing a consistent decline since Asia’s financial crisis begun in July 1997, the Marianas Visitors Authority revealed that visitor arrivals has finally showed a slight improvement in March with a two percent increase,or a total of 44,249 compared to the same period last year.

However, overall visitor arrivals record for the first six months of Fiscal Year 1999 is still 14 percent down compared to the same period of the previous year.

The new arrivals record was released as Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio declared May as the tourism month to emphasize its importance to the Commonwealth as a source of revenues.

During the proclamation signing, the governor noted the benefits derived from tourism which include increased employment and promotion of inter-cultural understanding and education.

Visitor arrivals from Asia grew by three percent in March brought about by the strong growth from Korea and Hong Kong. As indications showed that the Korean economy has already bottomed out, arrivals from Korea jumped 114 percent.

Korea, the second biggest market of the CNMI, has been implementing economic reforms, providing confidence for many of its nationals to begin traveling overseas again.

MVA Managing Director Perry Tenorio expects Korean arrivals to increase further with the planned resumption of air service of Korean Air before the end of the year.

Hong Kong, an alternative market for the CNMI, generated a positive growth with 40 percent more visitors for the CNMI.

Japan, the main source of visitors, posted a two percent decline compared to the same period last year. The slight decline can be attributed to losses from the Kanto (Tokyo), Tohoku (Sendai) and Kyushu (Fukuoka) areas.

Losses from these regions were offset by gains from the Kinki (Osaka) and Tokai (Nagoya) markets, which grew 22 percent and 14 percent respectively, ending the double-digit decline for 16 consecutive months.

The recovery of the Japan market as a whole, was primarily brought about by the promotional campaign carried out by Japan Airlines, which brought two chartered flights from Tokyo and Nagoya.

MVA has expressed concern on the termination of Osaka-Saipan direct flights by Continental Micronesia on April 1, 1999 since this would result in the monthly loss of some 1,016 passengers. The figure is based on the average number of passengers the airline brings in since the beginning of the fiscal year.

Continental Micronesia claimed that the termination of Osaka-Saipan service was due to the low demand as passengers taking the non-stop and connecting flights to Saipan plunged 39 percent. The airline’s decision leaves only two direct flights of Continental to the CNMI — Nagoya-Saipan and Hong Kong-Saipan.

This leaves Japan Airlines as the only carrier from the region that provides daily service to Saipan, bringing in some 1,612 seats per week from Osaka. Since the beginning of the fiscal year, JAL brings in an average of 5,046 passengers to the Northern Marianas.

JAL has vowed to take advantage of the new incentives offered by the Commonwealth Ports Authority by bringing in more tourists to the CNMI. The ports authority has reduced by 50 percent the departure and arrival fees effective May 1, 1999.

For the first time in seven months, US arrivals registered a marginal increase of two percent in March mainly due to the arrivals of military ships. Also, the jump in arrivals on the island-municipality of Rota contributed to this growth.