This section presents statistics on arrivals and departures by purpose and citizenship of travelers. Unfortunately, there were no data available for 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Close to 89,000 travelers arrived or passed through the territory in 2001. Except, in 1997 with a serious under reporting of immigration data, arrivals have remained at about the 90,000 mark for the past four years. The net number of travelers (arrivals minus departures) in 2001 amounted to a gain of only 4 compared to a gain of 6,470 in 2000: another gain of 2,795 in 1999; a loss of 1,226 in 1998 and another gain of 1,681 in 1997. In total, the net increase in arrivals minus departures in the past five years amounted to 9,724 (an average of almost 2,000 every year). Despite this gain of close to 10,000 in the last five years, over 5,000 residents moved off-island and another 1,600 for employment abroad. Visit friends/relatives gained by over 8,000 and business with close to 6,000 in the same period.

Tourist’s arrivals at 6,535 in 2001 slightly went up. Our tourism market is made up of US with 60 percent, New Zealand with 29 percent and Australia with 5 percent. The composition of Business travelers followed the tourism pattern with the addition of Samoa: US with 43 percent, New Zealand with 25 percent, Samoa with 20 percent and Australia with 5 percent.

Resident arrivals in 2001 totaled 43,670 (an increase of almost 3,500 in 2000). In the five-year series, resident travelers arriving in the territory totaled 186,597 vs. 191,700 departing (reflecting a net out-migration of the resident population of about 1,000 each year).

One sector that is worth noting and definitely on a comeback trail is the cruise ship industry.  Endless efforts in data collection continued, and fortunately, we have been able to get arrivals for the following period.

CRUISE SHIP ARRIVALS                          2001        2002        2003        2004        2005      Total  Total        Passengers       4,914       2,791       8,229       3,538       6,702       26,174 Yearly chg.                    (2,123)      5,438     (4,691)      3,164 * Arrivals for 2005 include estimates for the remaining four cruise ships Scheduled for December.

There was significantly higher number of cruise ship arrivals in 2003.  Unfortunately, arrivals declined almost 60 percent in 2004 for the most part, due to Hurricane Heta in the beginning of the year. Projected arrivals for 2005 will almost double yielding almost 90 percent increase. Overall, experts are betting that this would be the beginning of a long overdue rebound for the cruise ship sector, thus fueling an economic boost to our local economy.

List of Tables 

7.1	Arrivals by Citizenship and Purpose of Travel:  2001
7.2	Visitor Arrivals by Purpose of Travel:  1997 to 2001
7.3	Business Arrivals by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.4	Tourist Arrivals by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.5	Arrivals to Visit Relatives by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.6	Employment Arrivals by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.7	In-Transit Arrivals by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.8	Resident Arrivals by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.9	Tourist Arrivals by Citizenship:  1997 to 2001
7.10	Departure by Citizenship and Purpose of Travel:  2001
7.11	Visitor Departures by Purpose of Travel:  1997 to 2001
7.12	Business Departures by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.13	Tourist Departures by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.14	Departures to Visit Friends/Relatives by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.15	Employment Departures by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.16	In-Transit Departures by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.17	Resident Departures by Month:  1997 to 2001
7.18	Tourist Departures by Citizenship:  1997 to 2001
7.19	Analysis of Arrivals and Departures by Purpose:  1997 to 2001