Will European travelers be drawn to the Northern Mariana Islands?
Quite possibly. According to Eurostat, Europeans spend four out of five trips outside their own country.
The Marianas Visitors Authority is hoping so. According to a Nov. 18 release, MVA exhibited at the World Travel Market from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7 in London, where booths cost between £6,000 and £10,000.
The Marianas Visitors Authority toured the Word Travel Market from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7 in London. Photo courtesy MVA.
Aside from meetings with what MVA said were “travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, television programs, key opinion leaders and social media influencers,” – the authority said it also promoted its business-friendly tax structure.
Europeans often travel long-distance since many of them have four weeks or more of annual leave.
However, British travelers are accustomed to package vacations, with four in ten respondents to an Air Travel Organisers Licensing program survey in February saying they would “book a package holiday for their next big trip.”
According to market research firm Euromonitor International, preliminary data for 2023 full-year European outbound volume shows 9.1 million trips made from Eastern Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and 18.7 million trips made from Western Europe to the Asia-Pacific. This represents 65% and 71% of 2019 levels.
Top destinations in the region for Eastern Europeans in 2023 were Thailand, 1.1 million; China, 995,200; Indonesia, 410,900; India, 291,200; and Vietnam, 291,100.
Among Western Europeans, the top 10 destinations were familiar Asia-Pacific tourism hotspots. Thailand took the top position with 3.6 million trips from Western Europe, followed by Pakistan, 2 million, including members of the Pakistani diaspora; India, 1.7 million; Japan,1.3 million; China, 1.1 million; Indonesia, 1.1 million; Singapore, 1 million; Vietnam, 835,100; the Philippines, 662.100; and the Maldives, 655,600.
The UK was the most recovered European source market to the Asia-Pacific in 2023. mbj
Hong Kong based carrier, Greater Bay Airlines, has filed for a U.S. Foreign Air Carrier Permit to start scheduling flights to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Naval Facilities Engineering and Systems Command awarded an $8 billion contract for work “primarily in Hawaii,” according to a U.S. Department of Defense release of June 19 CHamoru Standard Time.
The U.S. Air Force’s 356th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group, based at Andersen Air Force Base, was redesignated as the 356th Expeditionary Theater Support Group on June 18.
