Visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas went down in March 2008 after four straight months of growth, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority.
Arrival numbers slumped to 32,349 in March 2008 compared to 33,606 visitors in the same period a year ago.
This ends the four-month streak of positive growth that began in November 2007.
The authority says tourist numbers from Japan dropped from 21,685 last year to 18,135.
It says one major factor that contributed to this decline is the airline seat inventory for the month.
In March 2007, there were a total of 24,248 seats from Japan which comprised daily flights from Narita and Nagoya and nighttime flights from Narita which came in three times per week and nine charter flights from Osaka.
For the same month this year, the CNMI's tourism body said there were a total of 20,522 seats, which only include daily flights from Narita, Nagoya, and Osaka.
