Arrivals drop in August

The Northern Marianas received 3.65 percent less tourists last month compared to August 2004 due mainly to decline in seats capacity from Korea and China.

Visitor arrivals totaled only 44,469 in August 2005, slightly down from 46,154 visitors in the same month last year.

August is traditionally a peak travel month for Japan and Korea, the CNMI’s two biggest tourist markets. The month is a popular travel period, especially for the family market, because most students are on summer vacation.

The Marianas Visitors Authority blamed the termination of Beijing flights and the reduced flight frequency from Korea for the decrease in tourist arrivals.

MVA said the number of flights from Korea to Saipan declined by 40 percent, causing arrivals from Korea to reach only 7,032 visitors in August 2005. This represents an 18-percent decline from 8,550 visitors in the same month last year.

Arrivals from China also dropped by 18 percent in August 2005, compared to August 2004. Tourists from China numbered 3,591 last month. There were 4,405 Chinese visitors that came to the CNMI in August 2004.

“Arrivals were negatively affected by the decline in number of direct flights from China. In August 2004, there were a total of 25 flights from Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, China. Now, two flights per week come in to Saipan from Guangzhou and Shanghai,” MVA explained.

The lack of cruise and military ships calling on CNMI ports also affected arrivals last month. In August 2004, the CNMI welcomed one military ship and one cruise ship, which brought in a total of 988 visitors.

As a result, arrivals from the U.S. market totaled only 643, a 62-percent drop from 1,714 in August 2004.

After seven consecutive months of decline, however, visitor arrivals from Japan registered a 5-percent growth in August 2005, compared to August 2004.

Airlines servicing the Japan market brought in 30,484 visitors, an increase of 1,460 compared to August 2004 arrivals.

Direct flights from Tokyo utilized a bigger aircraft to address the high travel demand during the month. There were also eight extra flights from Japan brought in by Omni Airlines with a total of 1,100 visitors.

The CNMI received 1,604 visitors from Guam (up by 30 percent); 183 from Taiwan (up by 252 percent); 335 from Hong Kong (up by 112 percent); and 210 from the Philippines (down by 57 percent).