China, Japan arrivals down in May

China arrivals fell by 18 percent due to a temporary suspension of flights from Guangzhou, while the Japan market continued its downward trend last month.

The Marianas Visitors Authority reported yesterday that a total of 39,044 visitors came to the Northern Marianas in May 2005. This represents a decrease of less than 1 percent compared to the same month in 2004.

MVA attributed the decline to low arrivals from Japan and China, which offset the increases registered by the United States and Guam markets.

For the month of May, the CNMI received only 27,692 Japanese visitors, a 2-percent drop from the same month last year.

The Kanto and Kinki regions, the top two largest market regions, recorded a drop in arrivals, which contributed to the overall market decline. The Tokai region, the third largest market, posted a total of 3,658 arrivals in May, 28 percent higher than in the same month in 2004.

Meanwhile, the suspension of direct flights from Guangzhou from May 10 to June 6 resulted in the 18-percent decline in China arrivals. The CNMI welcomed only 1,863 Chinese visitors last month.

“In monitoring the Japan and China markets, the factors that will continue to affect arrivals are the airline seat capacity from Japan, and the challenges of building better awareness of the CNMI in China,” said MVA managing director Vicky I. Benavente.

She noted that the Guam and U.S. markets “performed exceptionally well” last month, posting growths of 12 percent and 22 percent respectively.

The Northern Marianas welcomed a total of 1,977 visitors from the United States and 1,928 from Guam.

“The positive growth for the USA market was the direct result of two military ship arrivals which docked at our ports in May, bringing in a total of 1,272 crew members, a 50-percent increase compared to May 2004,” said MVA.

The tourism agency also observed that the arrivals from Guam continue to be driven by business travelers.

MVA noted that over half of these visitors indicated that their main purpose for visiting was for business. The remaining was here for pleasure (31.28 percent) or to visit friends (16.62 percent).

There were also a variety of events and promotions that contributed to the growth from the Guam market. The Bisita Marianas campaign, launched in December 2004, was designed to attract inter-island travel from Guam to the CNMI. In addition, the Marianas Yacht Club Race was one of the tourism month events that involved participants from Guam.

Arrivals from the CNMI’s second largest market, Korea, climbed 1 percent compared to May 2004, bringing in a total of 4,337 visitors.

Although their arrival numbers are minimal, Taiwan and Hong Kong continued to show tremendous growth of 651% and 89% respectively compared to arrivals reported in May 2004.