‘Project Flame Tree’ to advance needed tourism changes

  A presentation dubbed “Project Flame Tree” was delivered before members and partners of the Marianas Visitors Authority during its general membership meeting yesterday, highlighting among others ongoing challenges and much-needed changes and improvements for the Commonwealth’s ailing tourism industry.

Guest speaker Jerry Tan, president of Tan Holdings and newly elected MVA board member, started his remarks by giving participants a comprehensive overview of the present state of the industry and how far behind the CNMI is from its rival destinations, Guam and Hawaii.

Citing statistics and records, the Commonwealth’s promotional spending for the Japan market alone was given emphasis by Tan, disclosing that Saipan spent only $750,000 for this market in 2011-a figure far behind the $7 million spent by Guam and $8 million expended by Hawaii.

For Tan, any funds appropriated for the purpose of promoting the destination should be considered as an investment rather than expenditure because this investment promises good returns.

He pointed out the need for the CNMI to “redouble” its efforts in marketing the islands. He added that MVA needs at least a $6-million promotional budget each year to do its mandate. In the Commonwealth, he revealed that the MVA budget is just merely on paper, citing the delay in allotments and the actual transfer to the agency resulting in unpaid obligations to vendors.

At present, there are only four airlines flying to the islands-Asiana Airlines, Delta Airlines, Cape Air, and Sichuan Airlines. With the addition of Saipan Air on July 1, Tan said the CNMI is expecting to see an increase in arrivals from key markets.

Saipan Air will initially fly to the following destinations: Osaka, Beijing, and Shonyang. Tan revealed that four other routes maybe explored by the new carrier in the future.

By end of 2012, Tan hopes to see arrivals grow by 400,000 and he expects it to further increase to 500,000 next year until it reaches the target 550,000 arrivals in 2014.

If the CNMI, Tan said, has three daily flights this will inject $100 million annually into the local economy. This is based on surveys that one flight per year equates to 50,000 tourists and each tourist spends $667, or on-island expenditure of $33.3 million per year.

The social media

Tan said because most tourists spend 40 percent of their time on the Internet, travelers mostly rely on information provided by a destination’s websites while others through information passed by friends. In comparing MVA’s with competing destinations like Hawaii and Fiji, Tan pointed out the need to make the necessary “change.”

It was revealed that out of 800 million users of Facebook, the MVA website received only 105 likes; Guam posted 1,124 likes; while Hawaii got 1,324 likes from fans.

Tan also cited the importance of improving the CNMI’s “repeat visitors” which is only at 26 percent compared to Guam with 40 percent and Hawaii with 65 percent repeat visitors.

Stop promoting sites with high crime rates

In acknowledging the government’s lack of funding to support the marketing efforts of MVA, Tan however asked the agency to stop promoting spots where crime rates are high. He cited Obyan Beach and Ladder Beach as among these sites.

“If then government cannot prevent crime, we must blacklist these sites. Do not promote sites that have high crime rates,” he said.

Tan also highlighted the need to re-invent the destination to make it more appealing to tourists and travelers. The CNMI, he said, has its own unique characteristics distinct from its competitors. Optimistic of the CNMI tourism’s bright future, Tan said this could only be achieved if everyone will take ownership of the tourism industry.