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With 2 more flights from Shanghai, Fitial invites more Chinese tourists
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Posted on Sep 28 2011
More visitors from China are expected to arrive on Saipan as a result of two additional flights from Shanghai that will start this November.
During a launch event held recently in Shanghai, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial welcomed almost 100 travel agents and gave them updates and views of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
The two additional charter flights will bring the total weekly arrival to four direct flights from Shanghai via Airbus 330 planes of Sichuan Airlines. The doubled capacity when filled up should be able to increase Chinese arrivals by 10 percent from last year’s 42,873.
In 2012, a 40-percent increase is projected to come out of the four flights. The schedule for the new flights will be every Wednesdays and Saturdays for flight 3U8647 and every Thursdays and Sundays for flight 3U8648.
Marianas Visitors Authority board chair Marian Aldan-Pierce reinforced Fitial’s invitation and gave a speech about the sights and destinations in the Northern Marianas. Richard Zhou, DFS’ global PRC director for marketing, spoke about the shopping experience on Saipan.
The event also included cultural performances by Chamorro dancers who flew in to reinforce the efforts to showcase the Northern Marianas’ culture to Chinese travel agents. Guests who attended expressed heightened interests to promote Saipan more in the coming months. Leading lifestyle and travel media also attended the island-themed event.
Century Tours and Dynasty Holiday organized the launch party shortly after the two companies got the approval to charter the two additional flights. Ronald Chan, Century Tours’ general manager, spearheaded the launch event preparations on behalf of the two companies.
“We are so happy to get the go signal on the charter flights. And with the support of the Saipan government and MVA, Century Tours and Dynasty Holiday can look forward to better tourism marketing and promotion in the key cities in China,” said Chan. (Office of the Governor)
