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MVA to support CPA on campaign
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Posted on Apr 12 1999
Marianas Visitors Authority board chairman Dave M. Sablan has pledged to assist the Commonwealth Ports Authority in enticing cruise vessels to bring in tourists to the CNMI.
Sablan said he will meet with various travel wholesalers in Japan to sell the Northern Marianas as a destination for Japanese travelers who prefer to go on a cruise.
Since Japan is encouraging school children to travel abroad, Sablan said tapping this huge market would greatly help the ailing tourism economy.
CPA executive director Carlos H. Salas said he has begun discussing with Japanese cruise vessels the possibility of calling on the port of Saipan. A week ago, the ports authority met with representatives of three Japanese cruise companies in a move to entice them to include the CNMI in their list of preferred destinations. He said one of the three firms is already considering to make Saipan as its home port.
Based on the recent cruise conference, the US 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 US is projected to reach $18.3 billion a year by 2002, according to a study commissioned by the International Council of Cruise Line.
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.
The senior travel sector, which make up a huge market for Japanese cruise industry, has been growing fast with 20 million of the Japanese population already over 64 years old. These retirees who are receiving the world’s most generous pension will gladly board cruise ships or take luxury tours.
According to Salas, the Northern Marianas can cash in on the aggressive promotion being carried out by Hawaii as a cruise destination because the CNMI can be marketed as an island-destination which is much nearer to Japan, with a unique culture and warm weather all throughout the year.
