A total of 132,952 visited Guam in July broke a 20-year record for arrivals in the month. The total number of arrivals also was an 8.1-percent increase over last July. Visitors from Korea were up 25 percent, while U.S. mainland visitor arrivals were up 14.9 percent over last year. However, the recent escalation in threats from North Korea appears to be having a positive effect on tourism to Guam.
The island’s sandy beaches and aquamarine waters make it a popular getaway for travelers from Japan and South Korea. Guam is only about three hours by plane from major cities in both countries. The island receives about 1.3 million tourists per year, primarily from Asia. Surging visitor arrivals from South Korea this year have made the country Guam’s main visitor market, surpassing Japan. For July, Guam saw 61,097 visitors from South Korea.
Year-to-date arrivals announced as 907,307, up 4.8 percent and following Korea, Japan sent 51,811 visitors, down 5.2 percent.
Donald Trump said he’d been watching scenes of Guam on the news, and “it just looks like a beautiful place.” Trump told Guam’s Republican governor Eddie Calvo that the global attention would send more tourists to the island. “We’ve got 95 percent occupancy and after all this stuff calms down, we’re going to have 110 percent occupancy,” Calvo said.
Source: PDN
