April visitor arrivals down by 12 percent

Tourist arrivals to the Northern Mariana Islands were down 12.47 percent last month compared to April 2008, bringing the fiscal year total to 2.72 percent fewer visitors than the same period in 2008.

According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, total visitor arrivals to the CNMI reached 27,833 last month compared to 31,800 in April 2008. Since the CNMI had 16 percent more airseats available in April 2009 than a year ago, the downturn is largely attributed to decreased travel demand dampened by the worldwide economic downturn.

“Although we lost the Northwest Airlines Kansai flight in late March 2009, we’ve also seen the addition of a Narita nighttime flight and Asiana Kansai flight over the last year, so we actually had more seats than in April 2008,” said MVA managing director Perry Tenorio. “Unfortunately, what we’re experiencing is the negative effect of the economic downturn on outbound travel from our primary markets.”

Japan, which has seen continued arrival growth for a number of months, took its first dip in April 2009, losing 10 percent with only 14,214 visitors compared to April 2008. In its April report, the Japanese Cabinet Office maintained its stance that the economy is “worsening rapidly.” The Japanese yen also depreciated versus other major currencies in April, ending at 98.18 yen to the U.S. dollar. Japanese outbound travel was down 3 percent in March 2009 compared to last March.

Arrivals from Korea posted a sixth straight month of double-digit decline to minus 25 percent in April 2009, or 6,576 visitors. Overall, outbound departures of Korean travelers dropped 29 percent in March 2009 compared to March 2008.

“Our economic overview reports show that tentative signs of a bottoming out of the downturn are emerging in Korea’s credit, export and output data, although substantial risks still remain,” said Tenorio. “The [Korean] won’s sharp depreciation over the last year has prompted Koreans to cut back on overseas travel.”

According to a survey titled “Ask 2,113 Consumers” conducted by The Korea Travel Times, Hong-Kong and Macao, which are famous frequent independent travel—or F.I.T.—destinations, show a decrease in the number of package trips. On the other hand, Saipan, Guam and Southeast Asia are receiving more package tours from Korea. According to this survey, Saipan is ranked 7th in the world’s 2009 Top 11 Most Satisfying Destinations (2009), which are Spain (88.8 percent), Malaysia (87.8 percent), New Zealand (87.7 percent), Macao (87.4 percent), Turkey (86.6 percent), Canada (85.7 percent), Saipan (85.2 percent), USA (85.2 percent), Switzerland (85.1 percent), Singapore (85 percent) and Guam (84 percent).

Russia registered 7 percent growth in April to 731 visitors. China also posted its first increase for the year, a 15-percent increase to 162 visitors. Other increases included Guam (9 percent to 1,669) and Other Areas (9 percent to 2,148).

Arrivals from the United States dropped 53 percent to 743, largely due to lack of military ship visits; in April 2008 there were five military vessels. Losses were also seen from the Philippines (-14 percent to 162) and Taiwan (-22 percent to 7).