15 Jun 2009

Swine flu pandemic impacts May tourist arrivals in the CNMI

3:11 pm on 15 June 2009

The Marianas Visitors Authority reported a 23 percent drop in tourist arrivals last month, largely due to the swine flu pandemic.

Records from the agency showed that visitor arrivals to the CNMI in May totaled just 24,000, compared to 31 thousand in the same period in 2008.

This means a drop of nearly a quarter of previous figures.

The Visitors Authority says while the CNMI had more air seats available in May than a year ago from its major markets of Japan and China, the downturn is largely caused by the impact of the H1N1 virus on outbound travel around the world.