[San Roque area and coastline]
[Former Nikko Hotel, Kensington Hotel owned by South Korea’s E-land Group]
[Sign, reading “For Sale”]
[Hotel built in the 90s by Japanese investors for sale]
[Abandoned hotel building]
[Hyatt Regency Hotel, which closed on June 30, 2024]
[Shutter being installed at Hyatt’s main entrance]
Christopher Concepcion (interview): “As the tourism industry sort of has its peaks and valleys, we’ve seen our economy also sort of follow along those lines. There have been some properties that have been left, they’ve been up for sale and ownership has been transferred. Some of them need some major renovations, as you’ve noticed. Some of them have been left to… have been sitting, idle for a while.”
[Imperial Pacific International, an unfinished hotel-casino in the Garapan area]
[Broken window structure]
[Metal gates at main entrance]
Christopher Concepcion (interview): “Fairly recently, within the last 10, 15 years, really, we’ve seen the Japan market sort of soften and we’ve seen the Korean market grow, with the explosion of LCC carriers (low-cost carriers) coming out of the Korea market. It allowed for tremendous growth in arrivals from Korean beginning in, I want to say 2014, 2015, 2016 – in that period. So it’s been about 10 years since Korea has overtaken Japan to be our number one source market.”
[Duty-free shopping mall in Garapan area]
Kang Seong Hoon and Kyung Eun Joo (interview): “Holiday enjoy country. The food is delicious and the hotel is good, very good. Very clean (and the people are) very kind.”
[Korean Peace Memorial at Marpi Point]
[Korean tourists visiting the memorial]
[Sea seen from a beach]
Hiromi Matagolai, local resident originally from Japan, packing her windsurf board into her car
Hiromi Matagolai (interview): “I think now there is a generation, increasing number of (Japanese) people who do not know about Saipan. Guam is picking it up these days, but Saipan… As you saw yourselves, many businesses have retreated, and the city centre looks desolated. The sea is beautiful as you can see, but apart from the sea, for shopping. I guess it is tough. Wish more people would come.”
[Men playing drums in front of souvenir shop]
Christopher Concepcion (interview): “At least three or more major source markets. We would like to see the Japan market return to its prominence alongside Korea and smaller number from other countries in East Asia, including China and Hong Kong and Taiwan. I think it’s important for the diversification of the industry that we shouldn’t too reliant on any one source market.”
[Beach]
[Two women sitting on the beach, taking photos]
Christopher Concepcion (interview): “We’re an attractive destination for this area because of our year-round perfect weather and, of course, the beach and the history here. But I think the future of the tourism industry here is bright, it always has been.”
[Tourists playing in shallow water]
Christopher Concepcion (interview): “We have beautiful beaches and coral reefs, and we don’t want to… Overtourism is going to…it will destroy it, so we don’t want that. The balance is difficult like you mention. Japan is facing the situation today with overtourism. I guess we’re going to watch and learn, watch and see what Japan does and we’ll learn from their mistakes and their successes, and see how we can adapt to a much smaller market here, right? We have lessons to learn from our regional partners and stakeholders.”
[Sunset]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.