CNMI on track to exceed last fiscal year’s number of arrivals

The Marianas Visitors Authority says based off of the number of tourist arrivals seen as of May, the CNMI is on track to exceed the number of visitor arrivals seen last fiscal year.

Yesterday, during MVA’s general membership meeting held at the Saipan World Resort, MVA managing director Chris Concepcion shared that as of May, the CNMI has seen over 160,000 visitor arrivals.

This puts the CNMI on track to exceed the number of arrivals seen last fiscal year which was around 194,700.

“As of May, [the CNMI’s seen] 160,151 visitors so far for this fiscal year. We are on track to exceed last fiscal year but still 61% lower than before Super Typhoon Yutu and 37% lower than before the pandemic,” he said.

Concepcion shared that Korea makes up most of the CNMI’s visitor arrivals.

“We are seeing a solid performance from our Korea market but countered by strong challenges in our other source markets. Korea comprised almost half of all arrivals before Super Typhoon Yutu and the pandemic. Today, Korea represents 76% of all our visitors,” he said.

As for the rest of the market, Japan and China hold a small share.

“Japan is about the same market share before the typhoon and the pandemic. We expect Japan numbers to grow slowly but the extremely unfavorable exchange rates, their stagnant economy, and their shift toward domestic travel are really slowing recovery. Arrivals from China were about equal to Korea but are now only 6% of our market share,” he said.

Fortunately, Concepcion said the China market is expected to grow as Hong Kong Airlines’ twice-weekly flights continues.

“Hong Kong Airlines started twice-weekly flights to Saipan last April which is great news. Marketing of those flights are being led by our private sector partners as MVA hasn’t had an office in China since COVID. There is incremental growth anticipated from China with these flights from Hong Kong but we just don’t have the same number of direct flights as we had before the pandemic,” he said.

Regarding the development of a strong, third source market, Concepcion said MVA has explored Taiwan, Australia, and Singapore.

“We attended meeting, trade shows, expos, road shows to reintroduce the Marianas to airlines, tour operators, travel agencies who might be interested in doing business here. We will continue this effort, but we must note that once committed partners are identified, it will take time and a lot of money to open a new market that is not yet familiar with the Marianas,” he said.

On a positive note, Concepcion said the CNMI is seeing more traction in destination enhancement, which in turn makes for better visitors experience.