According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, arrivals to Saipan, Tinian and Rota registered 35,716 visitors last month compared to 38,932 in Jan. 2009. So far this fiscal year, total visitors arrivals are 19 percent lower than the same period last fiscal year.
Building on a significant 25 percent growth rate in December 2009 over the previous December, Korea registered another strong month of recovery in Jan. 2010.
Arrivals from Korea were 11,700, a 35 percent increase over Jan. 2009. MVA is forecasting continued recovery in arrivals from Korea for 2010, with the stabilization of the nation’s economy and the Korean won.
Arrivals from Japan were down 19 percent compared to Jan. 2009 with 18,018 visitors. While the same number of flights are operating, the use of smaller aircraft has resulted in fewer available seats. The Northern Marianas will also face a cut in airline seats from Nagoya beginning in April, as Delta Airlines will suspend regular flights from Nagoya from April 5 to June 9, 2010.
MVA reports that while the load factors between Nagoya and Saipan have been healthy — projected above 80 percent for the January-March period — the flight has been temporarily suspended for two months due to low forward bookings and Delta’s need for the aircraft elsewhere.
Arrivals from China were down 31 percent to 3,065 Chinese visitors in January due to the Chinese New Year holiday falling in February this year versus in January last year. Russian arrivals were less than half of what they were last year at 487 visitors (-57 percent), a decrease largely influenced by the large number of arrivals last January on two charter flights from Vladivostok.
Guam arrivals were up 8 percent to 1,524 visitors, and arrivals from the United States were up 24 percent to 644 visitors.
