DUE TO RECOVERY OF JAPANESE ECONOMY NMI expects influx of tourists

CNMI officials are optimistic of continued increase in tourist arrivals on the island from Japan in the next few months in the wake of indications that the world’s second largest economy is on its recovery path after two years of crisis brought about by currency crunch throughout much of East Asia.

A travel and tourism fair held in Japan last week buoyed hopes of House Speaker Diego T. Benavente after experts presented during a conference that Japanese are expected to make several trips to tourist destinations around the world.

He said the Commonwealth must be ready with the influx again of tourists to the island to accommodate them, such as hotel rooms and public infrastructure.

Mr. Benavente was one of dozens of CNMI delegates and Marianas Visitors Authority officials who attended the tourism fair organized by Japan Association of Travel Agents or JATA.

The delegation, led by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, arrived over the weekend after staying in Tokyo for nearly a week. It was not known how much the government spent for its participation this year, although CNMI spent over $200,000 at the last event in 1997.

The Northern Marianas was one of the hundreds of countries that joined the biennial fair to lure Japanese tourists to visit their destinations. The island government also launched its tourism promotions during the week-long affair.

According to Mr. Benavente, he attended a conference in the sideline of the JATA fair in which experts predict an increase in the number of Japanese taking overseas travels due to the improvement of the country’s economy and the stability of yen against the U.S. dollar.

“That’s what is important to me,” he said in an interview Friday after his arrival on Saipan. “All of the experts that made the presentation are all very hopeful [about the tourism industry].”

Although the CNMI has seen slight increase in the number of tourists from Japan in recent months, the lawmaker said it will take some time before the local visitors industry experience the boom prior to the Asian recession that began in 1997.

“It’s not going to be like what it was but there’s definitely going to be an increase in tourism from all over Asia, including Japan. That’s a sign for us that we better get ready for that again to make sure that our infrastructure are ready and hotel rooms are enough to accommodate them,” he said.

Mr. Benavente also maintained this will signal aggressive promotion by MVA in Japan so that “tourists start coming in and that airlines start granting more seats.”

The local tourism industry, NMI’s economic lifeblood, has suffered heavily over the past two years as Japanese and Korean visitors shrunk by almost 20 percent, pulling down government revenues and forcing closure of nearly 2,000 tourist-related businesses.

In October, tourist arrivals jumped by 20 percent over the same period last year, fueled by 25 percent growth in Japanese market.