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HANMI: Hotel occupancy up slightly in November
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Posted on Jan 02 2009
The hotel occupancy rate in the Northern Marianas increased by about two percentage points to 61 percent in November 2008, compared to the same month the year before.
In statistics released yesterday, the Hotel Association of Northern Marianas Islands also reported that year-to-date numbers increased 3 percent from 2007 to 2008.
HANMI president Lynn Knight attributes the improvements to the increased flight service to the CNMI. There are more flights from Tokyo and Korea now, as well as the addition of the Osaka route.
There were fewer hotel rooms available for the month of November 2008—82,380 compared to 85,050 in November 2007 but the 13 hotels sold 50,303 rooms, 211 more than the same month in 2007. One hotel, the association notes, was closed due to renovations.
Average room rates have increased from $83.71 in November 2007 to $89.34 in November 2008.
HANMI saw high occupancy numbers this past week because of the arrival of a Russian charter flight, and Knight said she expects good numbers across the board for December because of charter flights. Russian tourism numbers, Knight added, have increased significantly as Russians try to visit the CNMI before June 1, when new immigration laws come into place. Preliminary regulations published by the Department of Homeland Security do not include Russians in the visa-waiver program, which, Knight said, is one of the many reasons 2009 is an uncertain year for the CNMI tourism industry.
But November 2008 was notable because it was the month with the highest number of locals employed in the industry, Knight said. Out of 1,937 employees, 739, or 38 percent, were local.
This year to date, according to HANMI, member hotels have paid more than $2.8 million in gross receipts tax and $5.6 million in hotel occupancy tax to the government.
