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MVA, Asiana to host agents’ tour
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Posted on Sep 23 2008
The Marianas Visitors Authority and Asiana Airlines will hold a familiarization tour for travel agents from Sept. 26 to 29 on the islands of Saipan and Rota. The goal of the tour is to promote new golf travel to the islands as well as to further enhance relationships with major travel agents in Korea. The group will include 10 major agents including Hana Tour, Mode Tour, Redcap Tour, Tour2000, Tourmall, Very Good Tour, YB Tour, CJ Worldis, OK Tour, and Lotte JTB.
The Kumho-Asiana group’s goal for this tour is the promotion of the Lao Lao Bay Golf Resort. MVA believes that this familiarization tour—called FAM tour in the business—will give travel agents a first-hand experience of the various attractions in the Northern Mariana Islands and help them develop golf travel package products that will send the tourists to both Saipan and Rota.
Korea has a huge “golf travel” market, and it is still expanding rapidly. In 2007, 1.14 million Korean travelers went overseas for golfing and spent KRW 2,074,800,000,000 or US $1,851,266,194. This figure includes the accommodation fees associated with the golfing packages. Compared to 2006, the number of golf travelers jumped by 79.4 percent and the spending by 82 percent. Korean golfers are flying out because of the expensive green fees in Korea and the limited number of golf courses near Seoul, which makes it difficult to make reservations. Capturing a larger portion of these overseas golfers would help boost not only the number of tourists from Korea, but the revenue per head as well.
“We look forward to having these agents in the CNMI,” said MVA managing director Perry Tenorio. “Korean arrivals continue to play an important role in the CNMI tourism economy and we look forward to continued support and growth from this market.” [B][I](MVA)[/I][/B]
