The campaign runs through June 2011 and provides a monetary incentive for flights from cities and airports without service to the Northern Marianas, including Haneda International Airport, Sapporo, Niigata, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Okayama and Sendai. Flights from Nagoya and Osaka are also eligible during periods when seasonal scheduled flights are not operating.
Qualifying flights must arrive directly from the cities noted and have 80 percent of passengers deplaning at an international airport in the Northern Marianas. Travel agents sponsoring such flights will earn $5,000 for each qualifying flight.
“Our nearest competitor, Guam, has over 30 flights arriving daily from cities throughout Japan. This incentive program sweetens the pot for travel agents to bring some of those flights — or even new flights — to the Northern Marianas, first,” said MVA marketing manager Bruce Bateman. “By alleviating half of the cost to land at our airports, we aim to attract visitors that will generate more government and private sector revenue through their on-island spending.”
MVA indicates that the program is currently underway and will terminate when 20 qualifying flights have landed at a Northern Marianas airport.
“The beauty of this campaign is that MVA only expends funds when a travel agent fills an airplane that would otherwise not come here at all. The return on investment is outstanding,” said Bateman.
The promotion is available to travel agents on a first-come, first-served basis and is capped at $100,000. If a maximum 20 flights with 155 seats qualify, an additional 2,480 visitors will arrive during the period. MVA projects $2.1 million in direct impact and $6.7 million in indirect impact if the promotion funds are fully utilized.
