By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE number of tourists who visited the islands dropped by just 3.68 percent in January to 38,047 compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Marianas Visitors Authority,
MVA said there were 38,047 tourists in January compared to Jan. 2006’s record of 39,500.
MVA Managing Director Perry Tenorio, in a statement to the media, said the secondary markets of South Korea and Russia showed positive arrival growth last month, which reduced the overall decline.
“Korea showed a 44 percent increase over the same period last year while Russia showed a 52 percent increase. The continued marketing efforts in Korea combined with the three additional weekly flights from Seoul that started on Dec. 26, 2006 contributed to the increased arrivals,” Tenorio said.
But although the local tourism industry’s secondary markets showed positive growth, arrivals from the major market — Japan – continue to decline.
Only 21,302 Japanese visited the islands last month, down by 17 percent compared to last year’s 25,555.
“With the suspension of the Osaka flight by Northwest Airlines, Japan arrivals decreased by 17 percent. MVA looks forward to a stronger April and May from Japan with the increased commitment in charter flights out of Japan during that time period,” said Tenorio, adding that to date, Japan Airlines has scheduled five charter flights.
“I remain enthusiastic about the growth in Korea and Russia and look forward to the increased traffic from Japan,” said Tenorio. “We are working hard to fill the void left by Northwest Airlines and to see to it that our Japan arrival numbers increase.”
The Japanese tourist arrival rate plunged after JAL suspended its 14 flights a week between Tokyo and Saipan in Oct. 2005.
The carrier accounted for nearly half of the more than 300,000 Japanese tourists who visited the islands every year.