HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Visitor arrivals for July are up 16% above projected forecasts for fiscal year 2022 and, according to the Guam Visitors Bureau, the positive growth indicates signs of tourism recovery.
“The proof is in the pudding. It’s what you see right here on our beautiful island. Look around. See how crowded the beaches and the number of people that are eating out and shopping at all our retail outlets. Tourism is recovering and people are visiting and spending,” GVB President Carl Gutierrez said.
A preliminary visitor arrivals report for July 2022, released by GVB, showed the month ended with 41,091 visitors to the island, above projected forecasts.
At 68%, Korean tourists made up the bulk of travelers coming to Guam, which was expected by GVB.
“GVB’s original arrivals projection for FY2022 estimated around 130,000 visitors to Guam driven primarily by the Korean market representing around 50% of that amount. As of Aug. 8, Guam has welcomed 71,660 Korean visitors, capturing 45% of total market share,” GVB said in a press release.
Based on this performance, GVB anticipates welcoming 200,000 visitors from all markets, which exceeds the bureau’s forecast by 54%.
“While this is great news for Guam, our industry is fragile and we need all the support we can get for our airlines, travel agents, and small businesses that all contribute to our island’s tourism economy,” Gutierrez said.
While the Korean market dominated the mix of tourists, according to the July report, travelers from all Guam’s source markets are slowly returning to the island.
“The U.S. market represented 16%, Japan at 5%, the Philippines at 2%, and all other markets at 9%. Fiscal year arrivals to date are now at 150,874, a 219.7% increase over FY2021 and around 16% above FY2022 original forecasts,” GVB said in its report.
While Gutierrez said momentum is picking up, Guam used to average 120,000 to 140,000 travelers a month.
Nico Fujikawa, GVB’s director of tourism research and strategic planning, on Aug. 8 told The Guam Daily Post that getting back to that point is a slow crawl.
“We might not even hit that for the entire year. What we currently have this entire year, was what we used to get per month,” he said.
He noted while tourists are here spending, the pool is smaller.
Tourists are seen on Pale San Vitores Road, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Tumon, Guam.
