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Hotel occupancy, room rates go up in Jan.
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Posted on Feb 22 2009
The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands has reported an 80.48 percent occupancy among its 13 member hotels for January 2009.
The increase exceeds the 77.31 percent occupancy in January 2008 with an additional 521 rooms occupied for a total of 68,609. Room rates also rose slightly from $109.70 last year to $116.42 in January 2009.
“The slight increase in January 2009 was partially driven by holiday travel associated with the Chinese New Year, as well as the two Russian charter flights we received,” said HANMI vice chair Nick Nishikawa. “These two markets continue to help fill the gaps caused by fewer tourists from other markets.”
In January 2008, HANMI had 88,071 room nights available for sale; the number of January 2009 room nights for sale was 85,250. This year’s figures do not include the Plumeria Resort, which has closed. The month’s activities generated $400,000 in gross receipt tax and $800,000 in hotel occupancy tax.
In related news, HANMI elected new officers of the board in January 2009. Century Hotel GM Lynn Knight was re-elected chairwoman, Hyatt Regency Saipan GM Nick Nishikawa was elected vice-chair, Fiesta Resort & Spa GM B.K. Park was elected secretary, and Mike Johnson of allied member Deloitte Touche was elected treasurer. Aqua Resort GM Hiro Sugie and Saipan World Resort GM Hong Chul Shin also serve on the board. Knight is currently on extended leave, having been recently appointed as Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s representative in Washington on federalization and economic development.
The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands was established in 1985 as a professional forum for the hospitality industry of the CNMI. [B][I](HANMI)[/I][/B]
