Cover Story
Isolation Is Micronesia's Best Asset
Islands Take Aim At Asian Trade, Niche Markets
In Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, you count tourists on your hand: they’re not just statistics on a computer printout. Indeed, just a few years ago, the visitor traffic to these remote islands was so sparse that the Marshall Islands Journal, upon learning that an elderly couple eating in a local restaurant were bona fide visitors, interviewed them on the spot and published a feature about them.
Times are changing. Back in 1987, when Kosrae welcomed its first jet flight, five non-residents got off the planes arriving that week of inaugural air service. Last year, an average of nearly 50 visitors per week rolled off planes in Kosrae, half of who were tourists.
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But tourism in Micronesia is still skewed toward the big boys in the west: Guam (1.1 million visitors in 1999) and Saipan (501,800 visitors in 1999), with Palau up-and-coming (43,000 in 1999) largely because of its spectacular diving industry. "Western Micronesia has a lot more traffic and investment because they’re close to Asia," said Marshall Islands Visitors Authority general manager Ben Graham. Close to Asian destinations and with plenty of air service, Guam and Saipan go for the volume: short stay tourists who come to large resorts for golfing, shopping and water sports.
The smaller islands of Majuro, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap, however, have a different agenda. They all want bigger numbers, but are aiming at the Asian trade and niche market business: scuba diving, sports fishing, World War II tours, and adventure-style tourism.
The Marshalls, with its sunken nuclear fleet at Bikini Atoll, and Chuuk, with a large portion of the Japan’s World War II Pacific fleet in 60 feet of water in its lagoon, have the premier diving attractions. The high islands of Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap all afford lush tropical vistas — trails, mountains, waterfalls — and much to do for the adventurous.
For these islands, it has largely been a chicken and egg problem. To attract visitors, they need activities; but since they don’t have many tourists, activities have been slow to develop. In Pohnpei, small village-based cultural centers provide visitors a highly personal cultural experience, while organized tours of the ancient Nan Madol ruins offer an unparalleled view into Micronesia’s past. In largely undiscovered Kosrae, the island in January launched development of a visitor park which, when completed, will include a hiking trail, botanical garden, picnic area with local-style huts and bar-b-que stands, a sports court, and a museum and cultural center.
Everywhere in Micronesia, the governments are beginning to focus more seriously on targeted tourism promotion, with a particular focus on Asia. In Pohnpei, for example, the local visitors bureau has applied the services of Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers to develop marketing materials in Japanese and attend tourist exhibitions in Japan to attract more visitors. In the Marshalls, the number of Japanese visitors about doubled from 1999 to 2000. About two years ago, Robert Reimers Enterprises’ Marshalls Dive Adventures hired a Japanese divemaster, Satoshi Yoshii. His efforts, coupled with an aggressive visitors authority promotion campaign, have led to the take off in Japanese arrivals. In 1997, the Marshalls had 100 divers. Last year, more than 500 came to dive. "Five hundred divers for Palau is peanuts," quipped Graham. "That’s just one week’s worth. But for the Marshalls (it represents) really notable growth. The increase in divers is a direct result of promotions in Japan."
But it’s not only water sports that these islands are developing. With the opening in 1996 of the 150-room Outrigger Marshall Islands Resort, Majuro had its first real capability to host major events. While Majuro’s had its share of big regional meetings since then, Outrigger is working with such local agencies as the University of the South Pacific and Ministry of Resources and Development to sponsor regional meetings that will bring people to Majuro. Late last year, a three-day aquaculture meeting brought people in from around the Pacific, while in February, these organizations co-sponsored a workshop on traditional medicines, again bringing in dozens of attendees. Local businesses and government agencies "can’t afford to pay for advertising in travel trade publications, much less in commercial magazines," said Outrigger’s MaryLou Foley, who does much of the behind-the-scenes organizing for these events. "So we’re focusing on specialty markets that will draw people in and get coverage."
The cost and time it takes to get to these isolated islands is, no doubt, the major barrier to expanding tourism on any significant scale — but in this day and age of eco- and educational-tourists, it may also be their strongest asset. It’s difficult for the major resort islands to say they’ve got white sand beaches with no people as on any of the hundreds of outer islands in the Marshalls and Micronesia. Selling Micronesia and the Marshalls requires getting on the map for targeted visitor markets: Kosrae is using the services of a Hawaii-based public relations firm for promotion.
"One of our goals has been positive image building for the Marshall Islands," said Graham. "Previously, the Marshalls had a bad reputation. Since MIVA was formed three years ago, we’ve been able to cleanup the Marshalls’ name and reestablish it as a more attractive destination."
Graham believes, too, that participation in the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s Micronesia chapter has stepped up tourism efforts in all parts of this north Pacific region. "We now have a much stronger network in Micronesia," he said. "There’s a lot of collaboration with the other islands in Micronesia." Indeed, this collaboration — even friendly competition among neighboring islands — is much like the arrival of Outrigger in Majuro five years ago, which spurred Hotel Robert Reimers, previously the major hotel in Majuro, to develop a set of island-style, lagoon-side bungalows that have become tremendously popular with visitors and a significant source of revenue for the company.
