MVA Chairwoman Marian Aldan-Pierce, in her testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee on Thursday, said “the biggest challenge the CNMI travel industry continues to face for Japan — and all markets— is air seat availability to the islands.”
Aldan-Pierce said the CNMI has been losing $77.2 million and $204.4 million annually in direct and indirect economic opportunities for its Japan market.
She said the pullout of Japan Air Lines in 2005 resulted in 35 percent of total air seats lost.
Since December 2010, Delta Air Lines reduced one of its three daily flights from Tokyo/Narita — CNMI’s largest source city — to only three times weekly. Aldan-Pierce said this resulted in the decrease from 66,430 seats annually to 37,856 seats.
She said the suspended flight was formally terminated last April, demonstrating the uncertainty of the local tourism industry.
Add to this the suspension by Delta Air Lines of its daily direct Nagoya flights with operation resuming only during peak periods of the year.
Asiana, Aldan-Pierce said, provides seasonal daily flights during peak periods from Osaka.
Without the air seats in these two Japanese cities, Aldan-Pierce said the CNMI loses 90,720 visitors annually.
For its Korean market, the CNMI faced another loss after Asiana Airlines canceled its Busan flights last month.
Aldan-Pierce said the Korean carrier reduced from four to two flights weekly its daytime Incheon/Seoul flights, “marking a loss of 18 percent of available air seats on a weekly basis.”
She said although this is expected to be reversed this month, it underscores air service’s instability from the CNMI’s two biggest tourist markets.
But China and Russia continue to provide a glimmer of hope for the ailing tourism industry.
Aldan-Pierce said 18 months since the federalization of local immigration, the Chinese market has increased to 11 percent of total arrivals “and continues to grow” while the Russian market has equaled 1.3 percent of total arrivals.
She reported that CNMI has four direct charter flights from Guangzhou and Shanghai, two of China’s most affluent cities, while Fly Guam offers direct air service to Hong Kong three times a week.
She said Fly Guam and a Russian carrier are in negotiations to bring Russian tourists via Hong Kong under a plan to offer a two-destination package — Hong Kong and the CNMI — and take advantage of the waived visas in both destinations for Russians.
Aldan-Pierce recommended that the final rules for the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program continue to include a provision for the continued visa waiver entry of Russians and Chinese.
