Arrivals in April soar 40 percent

Lesser travel fears contributed to significant improvements in tourist entry to the CNMI, which posted close to a 40-percent growth in April. The surging China market contributed to the growth, with visitor arrivals from the Asian country posting a skyrocketing increase of 1,412 percent.

Statistics released by the Marianas Visitors Authority showed that at least 39,595 visitors came to the islands last month—39.08 percent higher than April 2003’s 28,470.

The CNMI’s premier markets—Japan and Korea—performed strongly in April by posting 50- and 20-percent growth, respectively, to pull the total arrival figure to its highest percentage growth this year.

The April statistics reflect the third consecutive month of growth recorded by the MVA when compared to monthly arrivals last year. March 2004’s 43,125 visitor tally equated to a 19.11 percent leap from March 2003’s 36,205 total, while February 2004 posted a 4.97-percent improvement, with total arrivals reaching 47,362.

MVA managing director Jonas Ogren said travelers have become less apprehensive about the influences of the Iraq war and severe acute respiratory syndrome—global events that negatively affected global travel last year.

“The occurrence of world events such as the war on Iraq and SARS negatively impacted our arrivals last year. It is quite encouraging to see that travelers are on the move again, as evidenced in our latest visitor arrival statistics,” Ogren said in a media release. “Just as important are the number of events and attractions that are lined up throughout the month of May, in celebration of tourism month in the CNMI.”

Japanese tourists who came to the CNMI last month totaled 28,472, significantly increasing compared with April 2003’s 19,010.

Korean arrivals reached 4,827, higher than April 2003’s 4,008. Chinese arrivals soared to 1,996 compared with last year’s 132 visitors.

Despite the upcoming celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian in June, visitors coming from the U.S. mainland dropped by 41 percent from April 2003’s 2,376 total, with visitors reaching only 1,400. Guam arrivals slid slightly by 7 percent, with only 1,782 visitors last month.

While mainland China is displaying strong potential as a major tourist market for the CNMI, visitor arrivals from Taiwan has nose-dived by 60 percent, contributing only 30 visitors. Hong Kong’s visiting tourists only reached 164 last month, declining by 22 percent.