MVA earmarks $100K for Saipanda survey

After over one year of using Saipanda mascot in its advertising campaign in Japan, the Marianas Visitors Authority is set to evaluate whether the marketing plan worked out or not.

The MVA board has approved a $100,000 budget for an independent firm to carry out the survey on its biggest market. In the planned marketing evaluation, MVA wants to know if the consumers have associated Saipanda with the destination.

“We want to know whether we are reaching our target consumers. Most of all, we want to find out if our marketing campaign is in the right direction,” said Perry Tenorio, managing director of MVA. He said MVA wants to conduct a similar evaluation on its Korean market.

Tokyo-based Dentsu 10 has been assisting MVA in promoting the Northern Marianas using the mascot Saipanda, a character resembling a panda bear with a rhinoceros-horned nose.

Dentsu 10 first established the character of Saipanda as an active Japanese male who is crazy about Saipan. Targeting the mass market first, Saipanda was introduced in various newspapers and magazines focusing on office ladies who comprise the biggest travel market in Japan.

In its marketing campaign, MVA aims to create demand and increase mind share which would hopefully stimulate more carriers to fly directly to the CNMI.

With the cutthroat competition in the travel industry, tourism officials believe that there is a strong need to create a distinct image for Saipan that will differentiate it from Guam as both islands compete for an increased market share in Japan.

Mr. Tenorio said MVA’s marketing campaign has focused on increasing awareness of the diversity of the CNMI’s tourism product, highlighting both the natural attractions of the destination as well as the broad range of tourism experiences that can be enjoyed in the Northern Marianas.

Tourist arrivals in the CNMI have drastically declined since the Asian economic crisis begun in July 1997. Businesses believe that it will be difficult for the island economy to bounce back to its pre-Asian crisis boom when visitor arrivals reached 726,690, or a 66 percent jump over 1996.

Due to the devaluation of the Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar, traveling to the CNMI has become very expensive for visitors from Japan and Korea, while other destinations in Asia have become much cheaper.

Various airlines have assured tourism officials that they would restore seat capacity if they stimulate travel demand to the CNMI. The government’s Aviation Task Force has been discussing with various airlines the possibility of picking up the routes dropped by Continental Airlines but so far nothing has materialized from these negotiations.