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Tourism numbers up on Rota, down on Saipan, Tinian
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Posted on Jan 14 2009
While tourist numbers were down on Saipan and Tinian, Rota enjoyed an upswing in its tourism activity in December 2008, according to the latest figures from the Marianas Visitors Authority.
Buoyed by charter flights from Japan, Rota experienced a 16-percent increase in visitor arrivals last month from 866 in December 2007 to 1,004 in December 2008.
Japanese arrivals constituted the second largest percentage rise of 108 percent from 217 during the same period a year ago to 452 last month.
Mainland U.S. tourists had the largest percentage increase of 111 percent (nine to 19), while visitors from the Philippines remained level at one year-to-year. The rest showed decreases—Korea 50 percent (from two to one), Russia 100 percent (from two to zero), Guam 2 percent (184 to 181), and others 9 percent (seven to four).
For calendar year 2008, arrivals to Rota experienced a 7 percent rise to 2,895 from 2,714 a year ago.
Saipan, meanwhile, saw visitor arrivals drop from 34,578 in December 2007 to 32,669 in December 2008—a 6 percent decrease.
Leading the fall in tourism numbers are travelers form China and Hong Kong, which dropped 42 percent from 3,470 to 2,004 in December 2008.
Korea also suffered a 30-percent loss in tourists from 11,615 in December 2007 to 8,096 in December 2008. The markets of Guam (7 percent), U.S. (3 percent), and the Philippines (26 percent) also experienced losses last month.
On the positive side, Saipan arrivals from Russia grew 39 percent (644 to 895), while those from Taiwan increased 46 percent (24 to 35).
Saipan’s December 2008 performance does not mirror the island’s fate in calendar year 2008 as arrivals remained almost the same—93,666 from 93,277.
Of the three main islands of the Commonwealth, Tinian had it worst in December 2008 as arrivals fell 40 percent from 4,839 to 2,896 last month.
Across the board, arrivals from the different markets decreased led by arrivals from Guam (81 percent), the U.S. (78 percent), Saipan (54 percent), China and Hong Kong (47 percent), others (29 percent), Korea (17 percent), and Japan (12 percent).
For the year, arrivals to Tinian were down 33 percent from 12,965 in 2007 to 8,648 in 2008.
