‘We cannot afford to lose the Japan market’

The CNMI needs to focus and pay close attention to the Japan tourism market, according to Marianas Visitors Authority board member Jerry Tan, who believes the Commonwealth cannot afford to lose this market, which started the CNMI’s tourism industry.

“We really cannot afford to allow the Japan market to continue to decline,” Tan said. “We enjoy the growth from Korea and China and we want them, we want to see them continue their growth but I think everyone must pay close attention to the Japan market because we now have an opportunity to have a three-market strategy.”

MVA board member and Tan Holdings president Jerry Tan speaks of the need to focus on the Japan market in the tourism industry as the CNMI cannot afford to lose it. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)

Tan said a balanced market mix or market diversification is important.

“It’s very important for all destinations to strive for a more balanced market mix. And we have that opportunity,” he said.

Looking back at 2005, Tan pointed out that having one market alone is not good.

“For 30 years, we relied on one market. And what happened in 2005? Japan Airlines decided to go out from our market, and they were providing majority of the seats. One decision, a corporate decision from JAL, overnight turned our entire community upside down. And we didn’t have a second market or third market to look at that time,” Tan said.

The CNMI enjoyed its peak of Japanese visitors in 1997 with 450,000 tourists from that country alone. Almost 20 years later, the CNMI is experiencing an 87-percent decline in the Japan market.

Tan said he doesn’t believe that it’s because of the decline in Japan’s economy. He pointed out that the Japanese are still travelling—“but not to our islands.”

“The Japanese are still travelling, 30 minutes away from us,” Tan said, citing Japanese arrival numbers in Guam and other Pacific islands.

From 42 percent in 2011, the Japan market is now down to 19 percent of the tourism industry as it continues to decline every year. Tan said they are looking at Japanese tourists to go below 100,000 for the first time.

“I look at 2005, a really bad nightmare for us, but maybe in the end we come out stronger if we pursue other market aggressively,” Tan said. “[But] we cannot afford to lose the Japan market.”

To engage more tourists, as well as entice returning or repeat tourists, Tan said it is important to add features as well as “quality” to the islands’ facilities.

“We really don’t have anything new to speak of. That’s the challenge we face whenever we go to the market convention because we have nothing new. That’s something we really need to work hard on,” Tan said.

He also pointed out that “sustainable development” must be looked at more versus “potential overdevelopment.”

He added that airline partners must also be focused on.

“Our biggest struggle, since we lost Japan Airlines, is we cannot find the seat capacity that we need. We need to work much harder to encourage and hope that we will see more airlines interested. Low cost carriers exist in Japan,” he said.