Over 600K Korean tourists expected

With seven airlines wanting to provide direct flights to Saipan from all over South Korea, the CNMI is expecting to receive over 600,000 Korean tourists in the next fiscal year alone, according to Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig on Tuesday.

Speaking during the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee meeting presided over by Rep. Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan), Atalig disclosed that they are expecting the resumption of the CNMI’s tourism industry when more Korean tourists start coming in this March, April, and May.

He said Japanese tourists may also come because the Torres administration is currently working with a travel bubble program with Japan.

He said the China market is out of the picture at the moment, but Chinese tourists may resume coming to the CNMI down the road.

“We are focusing on the markets that are wanting to come to our islands,” he said.

Rep. Richard Lizama (D-Saipan) asked if the surge of COVID-19 cases in the CNMI would affect the anticipated increase in the number of Korean tourists.

Atalig said the Marianas Visitors Authority could probably answer that question, but his opinion based on his communication with MVA and the hotel industry is that they are still anticipating the sustained increase in tourists from the South Korea market. Atalig said six low-cost carriers in South Korea have all submitted letters of intent to service the CNMI with direct flights from all over Korea.

“That’s the first time in history that’s ever happened. We’ve always had two or three low-cost carriers and one main flagship, and that’s Asiana Air,” he said.

In response to Lizama’s question whether the CNMI gained or incurred a loss with the travel bubble program, Atalig said they had anticipated zero revenue coming in from the Korea tourism bubble but the CNMI did gain in terms of traction in the market and in terms of investments.

“It is an investment that we did so we haven’t realized any, as you would say in the business world, profit yet,” the secretary said.

Atalig said the CNMI basically had an internal local economy in fiscal year 2021 as it did not have any revenues generated by any other industry.

He noted that tourism industry halted in March of 2020 and hasn’t gained any traction until the CNMI signed a travel bubble program with South Korea.

Atalig said the travel bubble was very promising in that they had numbers that were surprising.

He said they had anticipated upwards of 10,000 Korean visitors in December, but that got scuttled by the surge in omicron cases, which affected the tourism industry worldwide, triggering a lot of flights cancellation.

“We are looking forward to that being resumed. We learn from tourism industry and those that are in South Korea that the numbers will continue to grow,” he said.

As MVA and the administration work on a travel bubble with Japan, Atalig said they are hoping they can have some charter flights in time for the Japanese holiday period. He said they are working with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as the State Department, to help the CNMI secure this travel arrangement with Japan.

“We’re being optimistic, but I’m being cautious. So I’m not expecting a big, large number [from the Japan market],” Atalig said.

He said the goal is to get the CNMI tourism market started so that, as people learn to live with COVID-19, travelers will start coming back to the islands.

Atalig said the American Rescue Plan Act funding allowed the CNMI to make significant progress in resuming the tourism market and to get the Commonwealth a step ahead of market competitors. He said ARPA has been able to keep all government employees employed, as well as lifting of the austerity, within the fiscal year 2021 budget year.

“So there’s significant amounts of investments through the ARPA that allowed our government to be full and to be whole, and that we have our employees contribute to our local economy,” the secretary said.