China arrivals down in first month of ADS

Visitor arrivals from China dropped by 21 percent in January, the month immediately following the Chinese government’s decision to grant Approved Destination Status to the Northern Marianas.

Data from the Marianas Visitors Authority showed that the islands received only 2,938 Chinese visitors last month, 21 percent fewer than the 3,727 Chinese tourists that came in the same month last year.

Arrivals from Hong Kong took a dive by 22 percent, from 237 visitors in January 2004 to 185 last month.

MVA attributed the decreases to the timing of the Lunar New Year celebration. The agency pointed out that last year’s celebration took place in January, resulting in huge arrivals from China at that period.

Nevertheless, MVA managing director Vicky Benavente expressed confidence that 2005 will be a good year for the Commonwealth’s tourism industry “due to the recent ADS approval and aggressive marketing campaigns underway to stimulate travel to the CNMI.”

Overall, arrivals to the islands reached 50,270 visitors in January 2005, a 2.26 percent increase over the same month last year.

Japan continues to be the primary source of visitors to the CNMI, with arrivals totaling 35,795 visitors, a 4 percent increase compared to January 2004.

“This increase was boosted from the additional seats from Osaka and the increase in load factors from the direct flights from Osaka and Nagoya,” MVA said.

According to the agency, the load factor for Osaka was 85 percent in January 2005. in addition, the seat capacity from this flight showed an increase of 17 percent compared to January last year. This resulted in a positive increase of 18 percent in visitor arrivals from the Osaka region, compared to January 2004.

The Nagoya region however registered a 46 percent decline in seat capacity for January 2005, still as a result of Continental Micronesia’s April 2004 termination of daily flights from Nagoya.

Northwest Airlines is the only carrier now servicing the Saipan-Nagoya route. The airline posted a load factor of 90 percent in January 2005.

The number of Korean visitors dipped by 3 percent, reaching only 7,554 last month.

MVA noted that Korea arrivals in January 2004 included three military ships, which brought in 794 crew members to the CNMI. No military ships from Korea called on any CNMI port last month.

Still, MVA said, the number of Korean tourists that arrived by plane increased by 7 percent last month, compared to January 2004.