taking off
p. 15 · Read in the full issue
Tourism taking off
VISITOR arrival figures for the region show Micronesia is figuring strongly in Pacific tourism growth.
Palau has reported that 19,383 tourists landed in 1989, a 15 per cent increase on the previous year and that this can be expanded when the country has more than the present 350 hotel rooms. The new direct flights between Guam and Sydney had increased Austra lian tourism to Palau by about 700 per cent.
Figures for 1989 just released by the Pacific Asia Travel Associ ation showed that the Northern Marianas had the second greatest visitor total increase of all its island members. That year saw 333,277 people arrive in the CNMI (up 35.7 per cent on the previous year), a development which re flects the increased air links with the Japanese market.
Guam also showed another strong performance, with the
visitor figures backing anecdotal
information of a tourism boom on the island. □