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TO BOOST VISITOR ARRIVALS Hotel association bats for tourism master plan
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Posted on Dec 16 1999
Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands President Ron D. Sablan yesterday said he is optimistic that the CNMI will be able to go back to the economic level of prosperity it used to enjoy in the mid ’80s.
Given the right promotion and a long-term tourism master plan, CNMI can become a prime destination in the region again. “We cannot just sit back and allow things to get worse. We need to plan and create the demand so that the CNMI can reach that level of prosperity again,” said Mr. Sablan.
In making the plan, one should take into consideration the social and environmental issues as well as the importance of developing a strong cultural identity.
Even if the airline seats available right now will be fully booked, hotel occupancy will reach only 70 percent. The situation underscores the need to work closely with airlines and tour operators in selling the Northern Marianas to its main Japanese market.
Mr. Sablan has sought the drafting of a tourism master plan in a bid to provide direction to the island’s half-a-billion tourism industry in marketing the CNMI and carrying out infrastructure developments.
The hotel industry believes that all of these plans should be in place while there is a slowdown in business activity so that when economic recovery begins in the Asian region, the Northern Marianas is prepared to compete with other destinations.
Since the Asian economic crisis begun in July 1997, the tourism industry has been battered with the continuous downtrend in visitor arrivals which led to the closure of many businesses.
Due to Asian-wide financial crisis, the Northern Marianas now finds it difficult to compete in the travel industry since many destinations in the region have become very cheap as a result of the currency devaluation in these countries. To make things worse, the cost of doing business on the island is 15 to 20 percent more expensive than Guam.
