Guam Sees Record Highs in Tourist Arrivals

For Guam, May was the second-best tourism month on record, with 118,853 visitors coming for visit. Strong visitor numbers were partly attributed to several major events, including the Guam Micronesia Island Fair, Agat Mango Festival, Cocos Crossing and Guam Futures Tennis Tournament.

40 percent of these May visitors arrived from Japan and 44 percent from Korea. Overall, Korea saw a 19-percent growth compared to the same time last year. May’s numbers increased 3.9 percent overall.

However, some individual markets were down. Japanese arrivals declined by 3.6 percent, U.S. and Hawaii arrivals dropped 10 percent, Chinese arrivals fell 18.9 percent and arrivals from the Philippines declined 35.2 percent. However, while the GVB is pleased with total arrivals, there are challenges that need to be met.

One major obstacle is the lack of seating capacity, since airline carriers such as Delta and Korean Air pulled out of gateways within Japan, including Osaka and Nagoya. In 2012, there were nearly 1.4 million seats available between Japan and Guam.

That number has dropped to less than 1 million in 2016. GVB also expects lower numbers from Taiwan and Hong Kong in June, due to suspension of flights from Eva Airand HK Express.