NMI tourism picks up in January

Visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas climbed 3.92 percent in January to reach 45,613, which shows that the island’s distressed tourism industry is slowly waking up from a three-year slumber that started in 1998.

Travelers from Japan have persistently positioned themselves as the prime source of revenues for the local tourism industry as the Marianas Visitors Authority disclosed a six-percent improvement on the number of Japanese tourists to the CNMI last month.

Last month’s growth in visitor arrivals from Japan came amid reduction in the number of charter flights between major cities in the North Asian country and Saipan.

MVA officials attribute the increase to the 5.8 percent improvement in passenger haul through direct flights from Japan to Saipan.

There were only four charter flights last month compared with January 2000’s nine. However, the growth may also be spurred by the arrival of two cruise ships in January, when scheduled ocean trips to the island from Japan were canceled last year due to concerns on computer glitches.

The honeymoon season and school holidays in South Korea also contributed to the overall growth of arrival statistics last month. At least 6,107 Korean travelers visited the CNMI, translated into a 24-percent increase from last year’s figures.

Although Seoul-based Asiana Airlines pulled out its services between Saipan and the Korean province of Pusan middle of January, the carrier redirected the flights to originate from the country’s capital to the CNMI.

At the same time, reduced arrivals of military ships to Saipan early this year pulled down the registered number of tourists originating from the mainland United States by 45 percent, according to MVA records.

This decline was, however, offset by the over 700 visitors from Taiwan courtesy of Mandarin Airlines’ twice-a-week air transport service between Taipei and Saipan; as well as the 253 percent increase in the number of Saipan-bound passengers from China.

Travelers from Hong Kong totaled 500, representing a 98-percent increase from the same month last year, while visitors from Guam dropped six percent to 1,294.

But MVA is optimistic the Northern Marianas’ travel sector will perform better this year compared to 2000, counting on the survey conducted by the Japan Travel Bureau that indicates a favorable holiday sequence in 2001.

There are eight three-day breaks for the year, compared with 2000’s six. Five of these weekends fall on either the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, or during school break.

MVA is confident these breaks will encourage travel demands by the family market.

Also, the Commonwealth’s tourism industry is expected to pump up government revenues by at least $200 million in five years due to the anticipated success of the programs that will be carried out by the Strategic Economic Development Council.

A report prepared by the Office of the Governor disclosed that revenues generated from the tourism industry are projected to reach $200 million by 2005.

Following projections that visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas will reach 810,000 in five years, the CNMI government is planning to develop 900 new tourist hotel rooms by 2004.

The plan to build more hotel rooms, although spearheaded by the business community, will be coordinated by the government with major economic players like banks, airline companies, hotels and retail firms.