19 Feb 2009

Big fall in tourist numbers in Marshall Islands last year

4:12 pm on 19 February 2009

Visitor traffic to the Marshall Islands plummeted in 2008 as a result of Japan Airlines cutbacks and the folding of the country's flagship scuba dive attraction at Bikini Atoll.

The Marshall Islands Visitors Authority says 6,022 people came to the country last year - a fall of 17 percent from 2007.

The small tourism industry was hit by the world economic crisis and the collapse of key national tourism assets.

Another key factor has been the lack of direct flights from Australia, which the Authority's spokesperson, Emelyn Simon, says makes it difficult and expensive for visitors from south of the equator to get to Majuro.

JAL had launched a charter service to Majuro in 2007 with six flights, but

provided only two charters in 2008, dramatically reducing the flow of

Japanese visitors.

Meanwhile tourist diving off Bikini onto World War Two wrecks was halted after Air Marshall Islands aircraft were repeatedly grounded.