About the Tourism Works Program

Why $11M for Airline Incentives?

Guam faced a "perfect storm" of challenges: delayed travel from Japan and Korea post-COVID, fierce competition, strong USD against weak Yen and Won (making landing fees unaffordable), global aircraft shortages, the Korea Air and Asiana Airlines merger, and Korean carrier accidents. Specific incidents included a typhoon, the Korean government-mandated route halts due to the airline merger, martial law in South Korea weakening the Won, accidents involving Jeju and Air Busan, and craft delivery delays exacerbated by labor shortages in manufacturing. Guam feels these effects significantly.

Guam's Air Service Missions to Korea in November 2024 and April 2025 have yielded significant results. Following the November mission, Korean Air increased its seat capacity to Guam in January 2025. The April mission led to further seat capacity additions from Korean Air, Jin Air, and Jeju Air for May through September of this year. This has boosted available seats from 39,000 in May to over 60,000 in August.

Ongoing promotions by GVB, such as the "Kids Fly Free" initiative, have been well-received, demonstrating the market's positive response to airline incentives.

Airline incentives are a globally utilized tool for tourism recovery and long-term route development.  Guam is no exception with its need to attract new flights and compete with other destinations for tourism recovery. GVB is requesting a total of $11.1 million in FY2026 to retain new flight routes and keep airplanes landing at the Guam International Airport.  Here's why:

•  Guam is rebuilding air seats lost during COVID and after Typhoon Mawar.
•⁠  ⁠Expanding air routes keeps our tourism economy from closing down.
•⁠  ⁠GVB has grown Guam’s air seat capacity from 39,000 seats in June to over 60,000 seats in August 2025, largely due to FY2025 airline incentives.
•⁠  ⁠Without continued incentives in FY2026, airlines have no obligation to stay or add new routes to Guam.
•⁠  ⁠Airlines in key markets such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines have shown strong interest, but require continued support to maintain frequency to Guam.
•⁠  ⁠There is a global aircraft shortage now, limiting airlines and making it competitive for destinations to attract or retain flights.
•⁠  ⁠Destinations across the world offer airline incentives, including Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, and numerous US destinations such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and New York to name a few. 
•⁠  ⁠Guam's requested $11.1M will be used as follows:
  ~ $5.4M in incentives for airlines from Korea to retain or add new flights.
  ~ $5.7M in incentives for low cost carriers, to retain or add new flights, and promote travel from Japan.
•⁠  ⁠Agreements will be Performance-Based, structuring the incentives based on seat capacity, flight load factor, and route duration.

Want to Schedule a Tourism Talk Tour?

The Tourism Works Talk Tour presentations are hosted by a representative(s) from the Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) and/or frontline workers in the industry. Participants will get first-hand knowledge from both GVB representatives and frontline workings about their important roles in the tourism industry. Participants will also learn how tourism directly and indirectly benefits the island and our local community in ways that they may not be aware of; such as learning about agencies, cultural groups, and organizations supported by tourism.

It's easy and free to sign up! A Tourism Works program representative will contact you with details on participating in our talk tour.

Tourism Works Talk Tour Sign Up Contact: dee.hernandez@visitguam.org

Guam Visitors Bureau YouTube Playlist

• Introduction

• Brief history of tourism

• How Tourism Works for Guam

• What is my role in Tourism?

  • Cultural Events / Programs, organization support, etc

  • Environment

  • Safety

  • Improvement Projects

• How to learn more

View our latest Tourism Works testimonials on Instagram!