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Perry: CNMI not only destination feeling crunch
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Posted on Dec 22 2008
The CNMI is not the only tourist destination feeling the effects of the ongoing Japanese recession and the recent depreciation of the Korean won.
This, according to Marianas Visitors Authority executive director Perry Tenorio, who returned to Saipan early Saturday morning after being part of the Asiana Airlines’ inaugural Osaka-Saipan flight.
“The CNMI is not alone in feeling the effects of the Japanese recession and devaluation of the Korean won. Any country that relies heavily in tourism should be worried. There’s a lot of concerns out there [that] people, instead of spending their money on travel, may be saving it because of the situation right now,” he said.
Tenorio, however, said the MVA will do everything in its power to promote the CNMI to its major markets in Asia.
“I guess there’s a lot of hope and this goes back to the membership meeting when chairman [Jerry] Tan said that there’s a question mark in the future of tourism. We will continue to do what we need to do and at the end of the day it’s really up to these people. Hopefully they have enough resources to travel and if they do, I hope they choose the CNMI over other destinations,” he said.
Tenorio’s comments come on the heels of a Japan Travel Bureau report showing a 9.5-percent drop in Japanese outbound travel in the fiscal year that ended in October.
According to the report published in the Minaichi Daily News, sales from group tours and agent-planned tours decreased 12.2 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, from October 2007 to October 2008.
“For the popular LOOK JTB Tours, the number of participants dropped 11.1 percent from a year ago, outpacing the drop in sales, due to slugging demand for Hawaii, Guam/Saipan, and North America despite good demand for Asian destinations.”
The report went on say that JTB’s booking levels are a highly indicative benchmark of Japanese travel trends as the group handles over a fifth of the outbound market, which is 22 percent in October.
The Korean won, meanwhile, has fallen more than a quarter against the dollar this year.
