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‘Focus on enhancing flight services to NMI’
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Posted on Jan 16 2006
Noting the decline in visitor arrivals to the CNMI in 2005, Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Charles Cepeda said the government should entice existing air carriers to enhance flights services to the islands.
Cepeda said the government should focus on existing airline companies servicing the islands—including Northwest Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Continental Micronesia and Cape Air. He also said flight services by other air carriers should be welcome.
Cepeda said he would bring this matter before Gov. Benigno Fitial’s think tank committee, of which he is member.
He said he would like to find out what the government has done or has been doing “to entice them [airline companies] to service us.”
Cepeda underscored the need to increase seat capacities to the islands to improve the number of tourists coming into the CNMI. The CNMI played host to 506,846 visitors in 2005—nearly 30,000 tourists less than the 2004 total.
Japan Airlines stopped its regular flights to Saipan in October last year.
The year’s last quarter arrival figures recorded by the Marianas Visitors Authority show that only 68,531 Japanese tourists came to the islands during the period, significantly lower than the 93,055 Japanese tourists who visited the Northern Marianas during the same period in 2004.
The last quarter arrivals translated to a 26-percent decline, which meant there were 24,524 less tourists from Japan following JAL’s pullout. The loss accounts for 84 percent of the total decline in tourist arrivals for the entire year.
“We need to take care of our tour agents and sit down with them on how to get the Japanese market back,” Cepeda said.
Cepeda expressed confidence that the Fitial administration, which has tagged the economy as its top priority, would respond positively to increase airline seat capacity to the islands.
