JSTA wants Inos admin to take immediate action

The Japan Saipan Travel Association has requested the administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos to take immediate action to increase air capacities from Japan. This after Delta Airlines confirmed that it will be suspending its morning flight service (DL288/287) starting October 2015.

In a July 6 letter to Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio, JSTA said it is “extremely critical” that MVA and JSTA work together to take immediate action on increasing air capacities by supporting charter flights as well as new and/or existing regular flights from any cities in Japan.

“Some of our member companies express the difficulties to continue businesses after the suspension as these companies [are] barely surviving throughout years of reducing flights from Japan,” JSTA president Masaru Sunaga said.

“In order to achieve mutual goal in bringing back the Japan market to a stable market, the Japan ad-hoc members and JSTA have been working closely with MVA in the past few months discussing the various opportunities and proposed plans,” Sunaga added.

However, the JSTA board said they have not heard anything moving forward “at this point” and strongly believes that they need “more specific” approaches and supporting programs to airlines such as Asiana Airlines and Jeju Airlines to entice the launching of their services to Saipan.

“We urgently request MVA to have regular meetings with tourism industry partners and share the information on action plans for both Saipan and Japan side. We would like to support MVA’s programs and work together for the Japanese market’s recovery,” Sunaga said.

According to MVA statistics for the month of May, Japanese arrivals are down by 10 percent from last year and the decrease is expected to continue following Delta Airlines’ decision to cut flights to the CNMI starting October.

In 2013 the number of arrivals from Japan was at 141,747, it decreased in 2014 to 110,234, and now from January to May of 2015, it is just 38,127.

In 2013 the average number of Japanese tourists visiting the CNMI per month was 11,812, in 2014 it decreased to 9,186, and in 2015 it decreased even more to a mere 7,910.

MVA board chair Marian Aldan-Pierce earlier told Saipan Tribune that the tourism body is collaborating with Delta Airlines and major Japanese travel agents to pick the market back up.

“We have several programs in the works through our Japan office to increase visitor arrivals from Japan. One significant effort is in collaboration with Delta and the major Japanese travel agents to increase utilization of Delta flights during the summer period,” Aldan-Pierce said.

However, this only addresses the summer period of increased arrivals from Japan.

Aldan-Pierce said that MVA in the CNMI, Japan, and Korea are working in close collaboration with hoteliers and Osaka travel agents to build a strong case for Jeju Air to launch a flight from Osaka to Saipan. Jeju, headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, will make the determination whether it wants to fly to the Commonwealth or not.