“I have fewer Chinese, Russian and Japanese customers coming to my stall compared to the previous years,” he said.
Lee puts up a henna tattoo stall during festivals and every Thursday at the Garapan Street Market.
He earned an average of $400 a day three years ago when he had more than 30 customers on busy days.
He said this year, he barely gets 20 customers a day.
His home service permanent tattoo business has also weakened because of the decreasing number of customers.
“I used to earn almost $700 a day whenever I see customers at a hotel but now I am lucky to do one hotel room service a month,” he said.
Eldrako Tattoo Shop, the most famous on island, is also experiencing a decrease in the number of customers.
“We have fewer Japanese customers now and the number of military personnel who were our regular customers before has also decreased,” said Dragon Edong, the shop’s owner.
With only a few tourists visiting the island, local residents are now his potential customers.
But not a lot of local residents want to get tattoos and a significant number of them are also leaving the island, Dragon Edong said.
