29 Jun 2011

May tourism figures down for CNMI

6:18 pm on 29 June 2011

Visitor numbers to the Northern Marianas dropped by 13 percent last month compared with May 2010, reflecting fewer bookings from the primary source markets of Japan and South Korea following the March 11th earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.

According to the Marianas Visitors Authority, arrivals fell to 23,500, with visitor numbers from Japan hitting their lowest level since 1984.

Overall, visitor arrivals for the year are down four percent to just over 288,000.

Despite the fall the Marianas Visitors' Authority remains optimistic about bookings for the summer period beginning in July.