The Marianas Visitors Authority projects that the CNMI will lose 400 million US dollars in annual tourism revenue largely because of three factors causing a drop in visitor numbers.
The three issues are the exclusion of Chinese and Russian tourists from the federal visa waiver programme due to start in June, Northwest Airlines' impending reduction of flights, and a continued dip in visitor arrivals from South Kore.
The Authority's managing director Perry Tenorio says these changes could decimate the CNMI economy.
The projected loss is equivalent to 35 percent of the CNMI's estimated annual tourism revenue in 2009 of 1.6 billion dollars, based on economic indicators released by the Department of Commerce.
However, the Authority is meeting travel partners to look at ways to replace the loss of seats.
Mr Tenorio says the new Osaka-Saipan flights by Asiana Airlines, which started in December, will help mitigate some of the loss.
But he says further assistance from the CNMI's travel partners is , needed to stop the CNMI becoming a ghost town.
