Tourist numbers stay on the downside

Visitor arrivals for the month of November declined 24 percent or a total of 39,301 compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year as the financial crisis in Asia continue to shatter the island’s tourism economy.

Of the various markets, only arrivals from Hong Kong provided a positive sign amid the regional crisis as it jumped 18 percent. Hong Kong is one of the alternative markets which the Marianas Visitors Authority has been eyeing to develop with the continuous drop in tourist arrivals from Japan and Korea.

MVA has been planning to establish an office there to increase the CNMI’s market share and rescue the financially troubled Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino by attracting more players visit the multi million complex.

While arrivals from various markets still registered a double-digit drop in November, the overall record showed a slight improvement compared to October, the beginning of fiscal year 1999.

Japan, the island’s main source of tourists, dropped 16 percent even as the Marianas Visitors Authority seek to find ways on how to convince more air carriers to service the CNMI.

Tourism officials expect the Japanese market to show further improvement in December as six chartered flights from Nagoya using a Boeing 767 aircraft on the island arrived with full capacity to boost the sagging half-a-billion-dollar tourism industry.

In a move to save its huge investment in the Northern Marianas, JAL has independently carried out its marketing campaign to lure more Japanese to visit the island. But the cutthroat competition in the travel industry and the currency crisis in Asia are two big obstacles which tourism officials have to hurdle to recapture the CNMI’s lost market share.

Travel agents have expressed apprehension over the growing popularity of Korea as a shopping destination for Japanese tourists because of the high purchasing value of the yen against the Korean won.

In January 1999, JAL will further launch an aggressive campaign dubbed as “JAL-Saipan Campaign,” targeting some 12,000 Japanese to come here within the three-month promotional period.

Although Taiwanese arrivals declined 25 percent, MVA board chairman Dave M. Sablan expects the market to improve as executives from Far Eastern Air Transport pledged in a recent meeting with the Aviation Task Force to provide its first chartered service in April 1999.

Korea, the second biggest market, plunged 58 percent or a total of 3,529. During the honeymoon season, Korean arrivals slightly increased as Asiana Airlines provided additional flights from Seoul to Saipan specifically to accommodate the influx of visitors.