Travel agents remain top motivators among tourists

Despite the advent of the Internet, travel agents continue to play a significant role in motivating travelers to visit the Northern Marianas, according to a questionnaire survey of tourists who came to the islands last month.

Results of the Marianas Visitors Authority survey show that 29.14 percent of the 26,000 respondents cited travel agents as their main motivation to come to the CNMI.

This was followed by climate with 21.12 percent, short flight time with 16.80 percent, and price with 16.73 percent.

Travelers who came to the CNMI after checking out the destination on the Internet registered an increase of 25.36 percent from March 2004. Almost 2,500 or 9.48 percent of the visitors last month said marketing information from the World Wide Web helped them decide to travel to the CNMI.

Of the 21,000 Japanese respondents, more than a fourth said travel agents encouraged them to make the trip. About 26 percent of the Japanese said their visit was motivated by the climate. Price and short flight time were separately cited by 20 percent of the Japanese tourists.

Travel agents also proved to have great influence in the Korean market, with 54.25 percent of the 2,555 Korean respondents saying they were convinced by travel agents.

Top motivations for Korean travelers are friends or relatives with 13.35 percent, previous trip with 8.73 percent, and short flight time with 4.70 percent.

Over 2,300, or 11.36 percent, of Japanese visitors said information from the Internet urged them to come to the CNMI. This represents an increase of 26.47 percent from March 2004.

The medium, however, has yet to gain popularity among Korean travelers, of whom only 67, or 2.62 percent, picked the Internet out of the 13 selections.

For the month of March, 51 percent of the total visitors were male while 49 percent were female.

The largest age group continued to be 20-24, accounting for 18.09 percent of the total visitors. The second largest group is 30-34 with 11.80 percent, followed by 25-29 with 11.19 percent and 35-39 with 10.14 percent.

Three in five tourists were on their first visit to the islands, while the rest either had visited the CNMI or did not state the frequency of their visit.

Only 4.66 percent of the visitors came to the CNMI for business, while the rest said the purpose of their visit was pleasure.

In the Japan market, the top four selections in travel plans were pleasure, 77.01 percent; diving, 18.37 percent; golf, 11.57 percent, and company trip, 8.03 percent.

The top four travel plans cited by Korean visitors were pleasure, 87.10 percent; honeymoon, 16.77 percent; golf, 6.78 percent; and visit family and relatives, 3.18 percent.