Korea will remain NMI’s largest tourist market

South Korea has been the CNMI’s largest tourism market before the COVID-19 pandemic and the Marianas Visitors Authority expects this to remain true until new, larger markets emerge.

This was one of the biggest takeaways from last week’s general membership meeting of the MVA, with MVA’s South Korea office representative Seijin Kim sharing that, as of November, Korea made up 82% of the CNMI’s total visitors.

In a separate interview with MVA managing director Chris Concepcion, he said the Korea market is nearly fully recovered when compared to 2019 numbers and affirmed that Korea has become the CNMI’s largest market post-pandemic.

Concepcion said the MVA expects Korea to continue to be the CNMI’s leading tourist market well into the foreseeable future.

“Our projection is that the Korea market will continue to be the No. 1 market in the foreseeable future. It’s a matter of numbers. The outbound travel from Korea is almost fully recovered compared to pre-COVID numbers. Japan is less than half of the number it was pre-COVID. For the next few years, until much larger markets in our region emerge, Korea will be [our largest market],” he said.

According to Kim’s presentation last week, as of October 2023, 148,081 of the nearly 180,000 visitors who traveled to Saipan were Korean tourists. The remaining 31,000-plus were a mix of other nationalities, including Japan and China.

Compared to Guam, the CNMI’s tourism industry has already recovered about 76%, Kim said, when compared to 2019 numbers. Guam is at 58%.

Back in 2019, the CNMI secured about 260,843 flight seats from various markets to Saipan. As of last month, the CNMI had about 198,503.

In comparison to Guam, Saipan’s tourism industry is recovering at a much faster pace, Kim said. Right now, Guam has secured about 726,084 flight seats in total; in 2023, Guam had about 423,776.

In terms of the Korean tourism market, the CNMI had 189,155 seats booked to Saipan in 2019; in 2023, about 148,081 seats from Korea to Saipan were secured. This is about a 78% recovery rate.

Comparatively, Guam saw about 619,396 Korean tourists visit the island in 2019; in 2023, less than half of that was seen, with only 298,992 inbound travelers from Korea. To put that in perspective, Guam’s Korean market has recovered about 48%.

Kim assured that MVA’s Korea team continues to work hard in marketing the CNMI as a leisure destination.

Currently, Korea has three flights to Saipan; Jeju Air, T’Way Airlines, and Asiana Airlines.

Jeju and T’Way currently provide daily flights from Korea to Saipan, while Asiana only provides two flights a week: every Wednesday and Saturday.