Guam Eyes Asia Growth

This week, the Guam Visitors Bureau is attending the B2B Global Travel Exchange and Roadshow in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This particular exposition is organized by a Philippines-based travel agency that already sells Guam travel packages to tourists but now aims to expand its sales in Malaysia.

Calendar year 2025 marks the first time the bureau is sending a delegation to this business-to-business travel exhibition. This is a natural outgrowth of the efforts the bureau has been putting into play to diversify and round out Destination Guam’s source markets in the island’s post-COVID years.

The bureau will collaborate with the travel agency and Philippine Airlines to conduct Guam Product Update presentations to key travel agents. The bureau’s New Markets subdivision has been concentrating resources toward attracting travelers from countries whose citizens require no U.S. visa to enter Guam by way of the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program.

Toward the end of 2023, the bureau hosted travel agents. Leaving little to chance, informed planning in execution will be key to future outcomes.

Before COVID shut down regional tourism in March 2020, fiscal year 2019 saw a record 1.6 million annual visitors touch down on Guam. Large-scale tourism operators would like to see hotel rooms scaling back up to 80% and 90% occupancy and attractions and experiences packed. Destination Guam is certainly built for that.

But to achieve this goal, a two-prong approach is being taken:
– Tourism industry players are organizing financing necessary to fill capacities through temporary airline subsidies, promotions and long-term capital improvements to support growth in primary markets like South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
– The bureau seeks promising new growth in Guam’s underserved markets with major upside due to the relative wealth of travelers from these areas as well as their accessibility as Guam-CNMI visa-waivered passport holders.