by Michele Catahay

Guam - Visitor arrivals have gone up by the thousands, compared to numbers released last year. According to Guam Visitors Bureau Deputy General Manager Ernie Galito, this time of year, the numbers have increased by five thousand compared to last year.

He says the Korean and Japanese markets have increased over the last few months, telling KUAM News, "It looks like we're going to be about 14 percent ahead of calendar year in 2010 and about 12 percent higher than the fiscal year in 2010...so about 8 percent overall, but double-digits from Korea - almost 35 to 65 percent increase and Japan had a modest increase for about 4 to 5 percent."

Last year, the island suffered from a decline in tourism numbers due to Swine Flu. Galito says with the numbers increasing at a good pace, they're looking forward to more arrivals and visitors staying longer for the next several months.