Pacific

CNMI tourism arrivals up

18:56 pm on 16 August 2016

Tourist arrivals in the Northern Marianas in July were up 17 percent over the same month last year.

Saipan, CNMI Photo: Supplied

The Marianas Visitors Authority said arrivals grew to 47,700 visitors, compared to 40,900 in July 2015.

Arrivals from South Korea posted their strongest month so far this year, jumping 38 percent to more than 21,000.

This was aided by direct twice daily flights from Seoul by Jeju Air and a twice daily service by Asiana Airlines in the summer season.

The CNMI nearly had a double-digit growth in visitor arrivals from China last month, with 19,572 Chinese visitors driving the market up nine percent, while tourists from Japan fell 26 percent to 4,172.

The CNMI has retrained its sights on reviving its tourism industry's former top source market with the launch of a large-scale promotional campaign.