Margaret Metcalfe, director of Guam governor Eddie Calvo's Washington office, said she's seen no evidence of an uptick in travel to the U.S. territory, which has been in the crosshairs of mounting tensions with North Korea.
"No," Metcalfe said with a laugh when asked if the island had welcomed more visitors since Trump's Aug. 11 conversation with Calvo.
Trump phoned the remote island's governor to assure its people they were safe and said, "I think your tourism is going to go up like tenfold with the expenditure of no money."
"Congratulations," he added.
Metcalfe said she has yet to see throngs of new visitors travelling to Guam.
"Right now, I think everyone is a little cautious about travel. It remains about the same, but most of the folks that come to visit us are folks who lived with the same threat," she said.
North Korea said in August that it was planning to launch ballistic missiles into waters near Guam to retaliate against President Trump's warning of "fire and fury" against the rogue nation if it continued to menace the U.S.
Trump later spoke to Calvo over the phone to assure him that "we are with you 1,000%, you are safe."
Trump added that Calvo, and his island, which lies 4,000 miles southwest of Hawaii, had encountered newfound fame, thanks to North Korea.
"Eddie, I have to tell you, you've become extremely famous, all over the world, they're talking about Guam, and they're talking about you."
Then came his conjecture about people checking it out for themsleves.
And Calvo believed the claim. "We got 95 percent occupancy and after all this stuff calms down we're going to have 110 percent occupancy," he said to Trump.
Statistics show that the number of tourists to the island nation actually decreased in August, according to the Guam Visitors Bureau.
"Before the North Korea tension, our visitor arrivals for this August were expected to be the top month in Guam's history. Instead, there was a slight decline," Calvo said in a statement.
Guam welcomed 143,677 visitors in August 2017, down by 0.7% compared to a record high a year earlier. Still, it marked Guam's second best month for tourism in the island's history.
Tourism is Guam's leading economic contributor.
Lt. Governor Ray Tenorio said the last thing Guam needs is for the downward trend to continue.
"Tourism is the lifeblood of our economy. For more visitors to continue coming to our island paradise, it's important to reassure them that Guam remains a family-friendly and safe destination," he said.
Guam Visitors Bureau reported 7,426 individual cancellations through package tours and other group travel arrangements in August.
Visitors to Guam from Japan, where most of its tourists come from, declined by 13.9% in August, with major airlines, including Delta and Korean Air, reducing service out of Japan.
Arrivals from Russia meanwhile increased by 8.3%.
"We are getting flights nonstop from Russia because people there live in places that are so cold, so to come to a tropical island is a dream come true," Metcalfe said.
Calvo asked Trump to visit the nation, known for its fishing and scuba diving.
"That could happen. It looks so beautiful to me, so that could very much happen," Trump said on the August call.
There could still be hope for an uptick in tourism. Hotels.com said that searches for Guam were up by 85% for the month of August, compared to the same period a year ago, though the site didn't reveal how many searches actually led to bookings.
Tourism Observer
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