Making tourism our business: The state of the industry

Everyone’s excited about the upcoming Flame Tree Arts Festival—the longest running arts and culture festival in Micronesia—and there’s no better time than now to start a conversation about what draws visitors to our beautiful Marianas.

Welcome to “Making Tourism Our Business,” a periodic series shared in cooperation with our local media toward the goal of engaging everyone in our Marianas community with important updates, opinions, and opportunities to get involved related to our No. 1 economic driver, tourism.

Over the last two months since returning to the helm of the Marianas Visitors Authority, I’ve had the opportunity to work with staff and other stakeholders in assessing the state of the tourism industry, identifying the major issues we face as a community when it comes to tourism and taking some solid steps forward in moving The Marianas closer to a full recovery of our tourism industry. It’s a very difficult time, and money is short, but we are up to the task.

In this inaugural column, allow me to give a brief update on our source markets and issue a call to action on one of the biggest obstacles I see to making our home a world-class tourist destination.

In short, overall arrivals to The Marianas this fiscal year stand at 121,957 as of June 2023. That’s only 43% of year-to-date arrivals in fiscal year 2019 before the pandemic. We still have a long way to go in recovery.

First, our source markets. As many of you know, Korea is doing great. We have 34 weekly flights from Seoul-Incheon operated by Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air, and T’way. Jeju Air just launched four weekly flights from Busan—the second-largest city in Korea—on July 19, and we are launching a media blitz to fill those flights and drum up more demand from this important market. In short, demand in Korea for The Marianas is already strong, and we anticipate recovering 78% of air seats from Korea by the end of this fiscal year compared to pre-COVID. That’s solid progress!

Flights from Japan started in September 2023 with flights three times a week from Tokyo- Narita. Japan has only started gaining real momentum this summer, thanks to the lifting of various government restrictions related to the pandemic and other factors that were keeping Japanese in-country, including a lingering fear of COVID. We’re happy to see summer bookings picking up, and United Airlines has published their schedule of flights through summer 2024. At 5,000 visitors, arrivals from Japan this fiscal year are 50% of what they were compared to fiscal year 2019—but that is only a fraction of what arrivals from Japan were in the 1990s. There is a lot of work ahead, but Japan is a highly favorable market that we cannot afford to neglect. And we won’t under my watch.

China. The position of the CNMI administration—due to geopolitical concerns—is to pivot away from China in terms of government tourism promotions. Also working against us, the number of flights between China and the U.S.A.—as mutually agreed to by the national governments—is still only a fraction of what it was before the pandemic. Only 24 flights a week, to be exact. Most of those limited flights are flying into more populated destinations in the mainland, so The Marianas will have to wait. However, we are starting to see a few hundred Chinese visitors a month arriving via Seoul and Tokyo, so there is still some demand for The Marianas.

There has been discussion on the feasibility of opening other source markets. Opening new markets will require a lot of money, money the local government does not have. The administration, the MVA, and other departments are exploring federal funding sources for that.

But as a I mentioned to legislators during the MVA’s budget hearing a few weeks ago, other than funding there is one huge obstacle still standing in the way of having a vibrant tourism industry, and it is entirely within our own hands to control—the sad state of our destination. On the one hand, we have a stunning ocean environment second to none, friendly people, and a vibrant multicultural community highlighted by indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian culture. And tourists love it! On the other, we have derelict buildings in our downtowns and villages, scenic sites and public facilities in a state of disrepair, a lack of care for preserving trees and our natural aesthetic, and the list goes on. Even if we have the biggest marketing budget in the world, if the product is substandard, no one will buy it. We cannot afford to develop a reputation as a rundown and old destination, and the time for action is now. The state of our home is a problem for us all. What can you do to help?
Over the coming months, we will explore these issues and more in greater detail, speaking openly about our challenges, recognizing best practices and successes and, most importantly, sharing ideas on how each government agency, business, community group, and individual citizen can personalize the Marianas Visitors Authority’s longstanding slogan of “Tourism is Everybody’s Business” by taking specific action within your personal area of control on Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the Northern Islands.

I invite you all to work with the MVA toward the common goal creating a home and destination we can be proud of by “Making Tourism Our Business.”