Visitor arrivals near half-million mark

Visitor arrivals for 2004 are expected to exceed the half-million mark by the end of the fiscal year, giving the CNMI tourism industry a reassuring sign of gradual recovery.
Based on preliminary data from the Marianas Visitors Authority, the year-to-date tourist arrivals now total 484,579—surpassing the 458,444 visitors registered in the entire FY 2003.

The 2004 figures cover arrivals from October 2003 to August 2004. Last month’s numbers, however, do not yet include Rota and Tinian arrivals.

“The total visitor arrivals for 2004 to date, suggests that travelers to the CNMI have gained travel confidence, which is a reassuring sign for industry service providers and consumers alike,” said MVA managing director Vicky I. Benavente.

She added, “The World Tourism Organization states that travel to Asia Pacific countries is expected to mirror the current upward trend in travel worldwide. For the CNMI, our research affiliates from abroad indicates a strong growth for the coming year, especially from the China and Japan travel markets.”

Monthly arrivals from all markets indicate that the months of May and June posted phenomenal growth, as compared with the same months the previous year.

May posted a growth rate of 67.52 percent and July followed with a 45.01 percent increase compared with the same period in 2003.

In comparison to arrival figures in 2002, the growth rate for May is recorded at 15.13 percent and June followed with 1.55 percent.

“Due to the occurrence of world events [the war in Iraq and the SARS epidemic] in 2003, visitor arrivals are more realistically comparable to that of arrivals in the same period in 2002,” MVA noted.

The emerging China market posted a tremendous increase in visitor arrivals last month with a record-breaking total of 4,405. In FY 2003, visitor arrivals totaled 13,368 and in FY 2004, the arrival figures are expected to double.

In August, Saipan welcomed a total of 45,505 visitors, posting a 21 percent increase from the number of tourists that came to the island in Aug. 2003.

Visitors from Japan made up 63 percent, or 28,710, of the total visitor arrivals. This is a 14 percent increase from arrivals from the Japan market in the same month last year.

Korean visitors composed another 19 percent of the visitors, while Chinese tourists made up about 10 percent.