The Guam Visitors Bureau reports that 1.3m-plus visitors arrived by air in fiscal 2014, setting a new tourism record for the island.

 

Overall arrivals in fiscal year 2014 (Oct. 1, 2013 – Sept. 30, 2014) reached 1,341,054 visitors, surpassing FY2013 and the GVB adds that with only three quarters of the calendar year gone, Guam has already  welcomed 1,013,031 tourists since January.

 

Fiscal year 2014 is now ranked as the third top fiscal year in Guam’s tourism history [with 1997 the biggest at 1,411,447-Ed], making it the most arrivals in a year for this century. “What’s even more amazing is that in spite of the Triple Disaster in March 2011, GVB and their tourism partners were able to stave off what initially was an anticipated large drop in visitor arrivals,” said Governor Eddie Baza Calvo.

 

“In addition, we had the tragedy in Tumon and North Korea threats last year. And yet, tourism kept growing. This isn’t an accident. We spread out on marketing and we’ve maintained our local product. We had all these things happening and yet, we were able to do more than just maintain our numbers, we built them up.”

 

HARD WORK IS PAYING OFF

The Governor and the GVB are now hopeful that all of this hard work will pay even more dividends in future and the community has already been strongly encouraged by the results of efforts to strengthen and diversify Guam’s tourism industry. The GVB says that while Japanese arrivals were slightly down, arrivals from Korea and China increased by 20% and 89.1%, respectively.

 

Other markets that also saw growth in September include the US mainland by 59.9%, Hawaii by 37.5%, Australia by 24% and the Philippines by 3.9% Exercise Valiant Shield also contributed to September’s upward trend, with Armed Forces Air Arrivals increasing by 127.3%. Civilian Sea Arrivals also grew by 172%.

 

“Guam has a compelling story that continues to be shared with the rest of the world,” said GVB General Manager Karl Pangelinan: “Achieving another record-breaking fiscal year in arrivals is a testament to the hard work of our industry professionals and partners. Because of them, tourism is the most robust and diverse it’s ever been in our history.”

 

TOP IMAGE: Stunning beaches. [Photo credit: Guam Visitors Bureau].