House to help MVA tap cruise industry

Leaders of the House of Representatives yesterday pledged to work with the Marianas Visitors Authority and the private sector in a move to entice international cruise companies to develop this lucrative tourism business in the CNMI.

With the surrounding vast Pacific Ocean, the Commonwealth can offer the best package to cruise investors and has the potential to attract large number of tourists from Asia, according to Rep. Dino M. Jones, chair of the Natural Resources Committee.

“Our land resources are limited and it’s about time that we have to venture out and tap our sea resources,” he told reporters in an interview from Washington D.C. where he and nine other members of the House are currently on a visit.

The delegation met yesterday (Tuesday in Washington D.C.) with William Myhre from the Maritime Cabotage Task Force to discuss cruise ship development and how it can be applied in the CNMI.

“He expressed a positive interest to make our mission possible,” said Mr. Jones, noting the expert’s observation that cruise is largely an untapped business in the Western Pacific region.

Cruise passengers spent an estimated $1.2 billion at Caribbean destinations in 1996, almost nine percent of total expenditures by all visitors. The average expenditure was $112 per port call.

Based on the recent cruise conference, the U.S. Virgin Islands, which records more than $100 million in passenger spending, cruise expenditure is 46 percent of the total for all visitors.

Cruise industry spending in the U.S. is projected to reach $18.3 billion a year by 2002, according to a study commissioned by the International Council of Cruise Line.

According to Mr. Jones, the CNMI possesses major factors that will be conducive to developing this type of tourism, foremost of which is the fact that it is a group of tropical islands with a unique culture.

Likewise, the weather is very favorable and the surrounding sea is not a hot spot for sea pirates, unlike in the Indian Ocean or in the North Atlantic.

Since cruise business is less labor intensive that manufacturing, there will be more job opportunities for resident workers, added Mr. Jones, although he said that local control over its own immigration is a plus factor as well.

The Jones Act federal regulations governing U.S. shipping industry also exempts the CNMI, thus allowing entry for foreign ships, according to the lawmaker.

“We have to explore this possibility [of cruise shipping] to generate extra revenues for our own economic development,” he said.

Last year, Commonwealth Ports Authority officials took steps to woo Japanese cruise vessels to visit the islands as part of its efforts to boost tourist arrivals, increase the port’s revenues and save the sagging tourism industry.

While there have been some of these ships making a port call on Saipan, it has not been fully exploited by island leaders. Hawaii, for instance, has been aggressively carrying our marketing efforts in luring cruise vessels.

The senior travel sector in Japan, the main market for cruise industry, has been surging fast with 20 million of the population in that country already over 64 years old. CPA stressed that these retirees who are receiving the world’s most generous pension will gladly board cruise ships or take luxury tours.