August arrivals down 12 percent

August 2011 visitor arrivals to the Northern Mariana Islands were down 12 percent compared to August 2010.

According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, arrivals to the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota registered 33,503 visitors in July compared to 38,047 in August 2010. Overall, visitor arrivals are down 8 percent so far this fiscal year to 312,698 visitors.

Arrivals from Japan dropped 24 percent to 15,388. In August 2011 the CNMI received two daily flights from Narita compared to three daily flights in August 2010. Fly Micronesia launched five new flights per week from Nagoya starting Aug. 11. The new service has been hit with a significant number of cancellations, which industry watchers hope will be alleviated by the arrival of a second aircraft at the end of September. While overall arrivals from Japan this fiscal year are down 18 percent, September’s Silver Week is expected to show strong arrivals to the CNMI.

Arrivals from the primary market of Korea dropped 2 percent in August to 10,540 arrivals. Market watchers in Korea, however, are seeing a gradual recovery with increasing air seats from Seoul and Busan. Asiana Airlines will launch new flights from Busan to Saipan twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays with an Airbus 320 aircraft with 144 seats running from Nov. 16, 2011, to Jan. 8, 2012. The aircraft will be upsized from an A320 to an A321 with 177 seats from Jan. 9 to March 24, 2012. These new Busan flights represent a gain of 6,198 seats from Nov. 16 to March 24, 2012. Also, Asiana will upgrade the nighttime aircraft from an Airbus 321 to an A330 with 275 seats from Oct. 1 to Dec. 4 resulting in a gain of 4,312 seats. Overall arrivals from Korea this fiscal year-to-date are unchanged from 2010, but airlift increases are projected to rise from the start of the new fiscal year in October.

The secondary market of China saw 5,118 arrivals in August, an 18-percent increase compared to the same month last year. Arrivals from China are also up 10 percent overall this fiscal year.

Arrivals from Russia continued their year-to-year growth streak that began in December 2010, posting a gain of 10 percent in August 2011 to 422 visitors. The lucrative market is up 18 percent overall this fiscal year.

The MVA also reported a 613 percent growth in arrivals from Hong Kong in August to 164 visitors. The increase follows the launching of direct Hong Kong-Saipan flights by Fly Micronesia in May.

The Philippines posted a 23-percent increase in arrivals to 53 in August, while arrivals from other markets were down: United States (-42 percent to 486), Guam (-15 percent to 1,117), and Other Areas (-4 percent to 215).

Economic highlights

For the first time in two months, the Japanese Cabinet Office upgraded its assessment of Japan’s economy, noting, “the Japanese economy is picking up while difficulties continue to prevail due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.” A survey of major companies’ CEOs by the Mainichi newspaper showed that 52.7 percent of them agree the economy is recovering, though all respondents pointed out some degree of uncertainty due to the financial situations in the U.S. and Europe. The Japanese government stopped enforcing its power savings requirements on large companies on Sept. 9, two weeks ahead of schedule, as peak temperatures have passed and ample power supplies have been restored.

Japanese outbound travel not only returned to positive territory in July 2011, the monthly total of 1,469,000 was the second highest July total ever. Experts attribute the gain to the release of pent up demand following the period of self-restraint after the earthquake, combined with record high yen-dollar exchange rates.

A record number of Koreans are expected to enjoy their vacations overseas this summer. Incheon International Airport predicts that more than 1.6 million Koreans will go overseas for their summer vacation this year, breaking the record set last year. The travel industry is enjoying a boom amid the scorching weather, which has followed the end of the annual rainy season. (MVA)