GVB smashes previous January tourism records

“What a great way to kick off our Visit Guam 2016 year than to reach historic levels in visitor arrivals! Let’s keep up the momentum and continue to share our Hafa Adai spirit and Chamorro culture with our guests, especially as the PATA Annual Summit and Festival of Pacific Arts quickly approaches. Congratulations to the Guam Visitors Bureau and its tourism partners for achieving yet another milestone.”

 — Governor Eddie Baza Calvo

 

Best January since 1996

January 2016 has become the best January of all time for visitor arrivals. When compared to the previous year, January arrivals rose 9.1% with 129,259 visitors welcomed to our shores. This broke a 20-year record of 121,684 visitors previously recorded in January 1996.

This follows news of 2015 being the best year in our island’s tourism history with more than 1.4 million tourists.

Much of the increase can be attributed to numbers from Guam’s second largest market of Korea, which also marked its best arrivals to date with 48,859 visitors. The increase was 25.8% over the previous year. Additional direct flights from Air Busan and T’Way Air and increased seat capacity from Incheon have supported the increased arrivals.

“We’re proud of breaking another arrivals record and we want to thank everyone for their hard work and for working together to support our tourism industry,” said GVB General Manager Nathan Denight.

“We just wrapped up a number of meetings with existing airline partners and potential new carriers in Japan with the help of Governor Eddie Calvo, Guam International Airport Authority and Guam Economic Development Authority.”

Denight noted that the partnership between government and private companies is doing much to ensure we are able to share the beauty of our Chamorro culture with the world.

“From the culture to the food and the scenes that are found only on Guam, we have a lot to offer and we can see that more people want to experience the paradise that we call home,” said Lt. Governor Ray Tenorio.

Summary of arrivals

Guam welcomed 129, 259 visitors in January 2016, a 9.1% increase when compared to the previous year. Total Fiscal Year-to-Date arrivals are also up 10.5%.

GVB continues to work with travel agents and tourism industry officials to implement marketing strategies that support growth of the Japan market.

Japan arrivals have slightly decreased, but Korea arrivals showed an increase of 25.8%. The People's Republic of China grew by 113.6%, while Taiwan followed with a 41.2% increase. Visitor markets also demonstrated growth and diversification. The U.S. mainland rose by 12.5% and Hawaii shot up by 16.6%. Other markets that recorded an increase in arrivals include the Philippines by 2.6%, Thailand by 87% and Europe by 3.9%.

Media Contact: JOSH TYQUIENGCO - Public Information Officer