Over 600K visitors expected in ’05

The Northern Marianas is expected to receive over 600,000 visitors this year and register further growth in arrivals in the next two years, according to the Pacific Asia Travel Association.

PATA forecasts that a total of 635,943 tourists will visit the Commonwealth in 2005, a 17.65 percent increase from the destination’s 2003 arrivals.

A further increase will be seen in 2006. Arrivals predicted to reach 705,235 visitors, a growth of 10.9 percent from the 2005 projection.

In 2007, the number of visitors to the Northern Marianas is expected to multiply to 761,443—an increase of 7.97 percent from 2006 and 13,46 from 2003.

PATA revealed that not only the Northern Marianas, but every other destination in the Asia-Pacific region, including those affected by the Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake in tsunami, are predicted to register arrivals growth to 2007.

In his speech at the PATA@ITB Forum in Bangkok, Thailand on March 11, PATA director John Koldowski said arrivals growth are expected to range from 4 percent (Pakistan) to 20.9 percent (Malaysia).

“In essence—and factoring in the potential longer-term impacts of the tsunami—it is felt that there will be minimal disruption to the international visitor flows across individual destinations,” Koldowski said.

Aside from projected global economic changes, he attributed the arrivals increase to the boom in the so-called “low cost carriers,” which he said, “could increase regional travel activity even more than is currently case.”

He added that PATA is not the only tourism authority with a positive outlook on the travel industry. The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, he noted, has projected an air passenger growth of between 5 and 6 percent this year.

PATA’s prediction for the CNMI is a little higher than that by the Marianas Visitors Authority, which has projected 611,486 visitors in FY 2005.

MVA earlier said it hoped to bring in 9 percent more Japanese tourists to the CNMI this year—or from 384,531 in 2004 to 420,000 in 2005. Japanese visitors account for 68.7 percent of the total projected arrivals.

MVA also targets to increase arrivals from Korea by 12.7 percent or 8,324 visitors; China by 88 percent or 25,762 visitors; Hong Kong by 140 percent or 2,799 visitors; Taiwan by 867 percent or 4,309 visitors; Philippines by 19 percent or 974 visitors; U.S.A. by 4 percent or 606 visitors; Guam by 10 percent or 1,916 visitors; and other markets by 6 percent or 392 visitors.

Visitor arrivals totaled 530,936 in fiscal year 2004, surpassing the half-million mark for the first time in five years.

The 500,000 threshold was last hit in 2000, when the CNMI registered 526,561 tourists.