Marianas Visitors Authority (MVA) is scrambling to grow its tourism numbers as airlines struggle to expand routes and increase flight frequencies due to global aircraft shortage.
MVA managing director, Jamika Taijeron, said the global delay of new aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus is impacting the agency’s request for additional route flight services to the CNMI from existing airlines.
“We cannot grow tourism numbers unless we get more flights and when we talk to our existing airline partners they’re saying they don’t have the equipment,” Taijeron said. “MVA must also prove that our destination has a demand, and that demand would be larger than any other large city.”
Taijeron said that is not easy to prove and that is the challenge CNMI tourism is facing now.
Visitor arrivals to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota totaled 15,802 in February 2025, marking a 32% decrease compared to the 23,207 visitors recorded in February 2024, according to MVA. Meanwhile Guam Visitors Bureau reported arrivals of 60,516 in February 2025, an 18% decrease compared to 74,154 in February 2024.
