By Pacific Island Times News Staff
The old familiar scene is back in Tumon. Asian tourists stroll around. The shopping bloc, known as Paradise Island, sees an increase in foot traffic.
Guam's parks and beaches are getting a bit crowded.
The Guam Visitors Bureau's preliminary visitor arrival report for July showed that arrivals for the month ended with 41,091 visitors (+219.5 percent) welcomed to the island.
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The Korean market dominated the market mix of travelers coming to the island at 68 percent, the U.S. market represented 16 percent, Japan at 5 percent, the Philippines at 2 percent, and all other markets at 9 percent.
Fiscal year arrivals to date are now at 150,874, a 219.7 percent increase over FY2021 and around +16 percent above FY2022 original forecasts.
GVB’s original arrivals projection for FY2022 estimated around 130,000 visitors to Guam driven primarily by the Korean market representing around 50 percent of that amount.
As of Aug. 8, Guam has welcomed 71,660 Korean visitors capturing 45 percent of the total market share. Based on current performance and recent trends, Guam can expect to welcome around 200,000 visitors from all of Guam’s major source markets, which exceeds GVB’s forecasts by +54 percent.
“The proof is in the pudding. It’s what you see right here on our beautiful island. Look around. See how crowded the beaches are and the number of people that are eating out and shopping at our retail outlets. Tourism is recovering and people are visiting and spending,” said Carl T.C. Gutierrez, GVB president & CEO.
“While this is great news for Guam, our industry is fragile and we need all the support we can get for our airlines, travel agents, and small businesses that all contribute to our island’s tourism economy. I encourage all our tourism-related businesses that now is the time to stick together and stay open. We’re just picking up the momentum and we want everyone to be with us when we’ve reached full recovery.”
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