Tourist arrivals soar by 67.52 percent in June

Visitor arrivals showed phenomenal growth last month, rising by 67.52 percent as compared with the same period in 2003.

According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, the islands received a total of 45,714 visitors last month—a significant improvement from the 27,288 tourists that came in June 2003, when arrivals were at the lowest.

MVA attributed the increase to the recovery of all markets from the negative impact resulting from the SARS outbreak last year. It also noted that arrival level for the month exceeded figures for the same month since 1997.

“[But] it is important to note that this month’s arrivals compared to 2002 figures provide a more precise indication for the growth in visitor arrivals,” MVA said. The 2003 figures could provide a distorted or misleading basis for comparison, as they reflect the impact of SARS, which caused a low arrival base.

There were 39,708 tourists who visited the CNMI in June 2002.

According to MVA statistics, all markets recorded huge growths in June 2004.

Arrivals from Japan—the CNMI’s primary tourism market—experienced the highest improvement rate since the beginning of the fiscal year. Japanese tourists totaled 32,822 last month, almost double the 18,504 visitors who visited in June 2003.

The Japan market also indicates that arrivals are ahead of pre-SARS level, posting a 17.07 percent increase as compared with June 2002 figures.

The emerging China market continued to be the top performer, bringing in 1,746 visitors. This is a whopping 3,463-percent increase as compared with June 2003. In addition to the regular twice-a-week flights from Guangzhou, China Southern Airlines brought in three flights from Shanghai.

Korea generated 5,967 visitors in the month of June, posting a 15-percent growth from June 2003 numbers. MVA attributed this to the three additional flights per week that Asiana Airlines started operating last June 1, to address the high travel demand during the summer season.

Data, however, showed that the Korea market posted a 16.64-percent decline as compared with June 2002.

The 60th anniversary commemoration of the Battles of Saipan and Tinian caused arrivals from the United States to post a triple-digit increase of 117 percent over the June 2003 figure and 107.71 percent over the June 2002 figure.

The U.S. market brought in 1,967 visitors last month.

“The increase for the month of June 2004 is attributed to the arrivals of three ships, which brought in a total of 945 visitors. In June 2003, there were no ships that visited the CNMI,” MVA said.

Further, the year-to-date arrivals reached 391,632 last month, posting a 13.65-percent growth as compared with the figures for June 2003 and a 28-percent increase as compared with those for June 2002.

MVA noted that for the first nine months of the fiscal year, visitor arrivals posted growth for every month except in Dec. 2003 and Jan. 2004.

The 5.54-percent decline last December and the 9.02 percent drop last January were attributed to the high arrival base recorded for the same months the previous year. Supertyphoon Pongsona devastated Guam and Rota in Dec. 2003, causing a lot of Guam’s visitors to divert their travel plans to Saipan instead.