‘A new era of tourism’

The Marianas Visitors Authority is developing a new global branding and marketing strategy that aims to launch a new era of tourism in the CNMI.

At the MVA’s membership meeting at Fiesta Resort & Spa’s Hibiscus Hall last Friday, MVA board chair Marian Aldan-Pierce also announced that the CNMI’s tourism industry has quickly bounced back after Super Typhoon Yutu’s devastation.

Not everything is coming up roses, though. Expressing great concern about the closure of Mariana Resort & Spa and the expiring land leases of major hotels, Aldan-Pierce pointed out that, if the CNMI wants its economy to survive, it cannot afford to keep closing hotels.

At the meeting, John Furuya, Skymark Airlines executive, briefly introduced the company as the newest airline that will be flying from Japan to the CNMI.

MVA’s Irene Lee, Florence Shi, and Takahashi Ichikura also takled about the numerous programs and plans for Korea, China, and Japan markets, respectively.

Aldan-Pierce said the development of the new global and marketing strategy aims to keep pace with competing Asia-Pacific resort destinations and to reboot the CNMI’s destination.

Since announcing the request for proposal for a new global branding and marketing strategy, the MVA has so far received over 100 inquiries from around the world. The deadline to submit proposals is Feb. 19, 2019.

“We will review the proposals received with the intention to forge a new strategy that will launch a new era of tourism for the Marianas,” said Aldan-Pierce at the packed meeting.

Rebound

She said the impact of Super Typhoon Yutu was tremendous, resulting in zero tourists for several weeks.

Yet while community recovery will take several more months, she said the MVA is pleased to see the tourism industry is bouncing back more quickly than they originally expected.

She said all flights from China and Hong Kong have returned to their regular schedules with good load factors.

Jeju Air has resumed daytime flights from Seoul with flights from Busan to resume on Dec. 21, 2018. Asiana Airlines will resume flights from Seoul on Dec. 20, 2018.

Aldan-Pierce said several hotels on Saipan and Tinian suffered major damage. One of those hotels, the Pacific Islands Club, is set to re-open on Dec. 21, 2018.

Hotels in central and northern Saipan have been back to normal operations for weeks.

Aldan-Pierce thanks the cooperative effort of the Governor’s Office, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. military, the many relief agencies, the community, and all those who have provided help to make the recovery rapid and smooth.

The MVA is now in the process of finalizing arrangements for direct flights from Japan and the planned resumption of charter flights from Taipei in early 2019, Aldan-Pierce said. An official announcement about the Taipei flights is expected next month.

Aldan-Pierce said the MVA has had a representative office in Taiwan for several years now, working on building destination awareness and demand. Yet it’s been over 20 years since the CNMI has had direct flights from Taiwan.

“So, we are very pleased with this development, because the Taiwan market looks very promising,” she said.

Land leases

Aldan-Pierce said they are very concerned about the closure of Mariana Resort & Spa, which, according to her, resulted in loss of jobs, loss of revenue for the central government, and hotel occupancy tax for MVA’s operations and marketing.

She noted the many community contributions the hotel has made such as the use of the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool—the only Olympic-size swimming pool in the Marianas—for the youths and adults swimming programs.

She expressed hope for the enactment of Senate Bill 20-35, which, if signed into law by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, would allow other hotels—such as Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan and Hyatt Regency Saipan—both of which have expiring land leases in 2021—to negotiate new leases. “Not that they are guaranteed a new lease, but that negotiations are conducted, and that those negotiations begin immediately.”

Visitor arrivals

Aldan-Pierce said that visitor arrivals in fiscal year 2018 was 7 percent lower than the year before, at just under 608,000 total visitors, after several years of steady growth.

She said the Marianas was strongly impacted by the cancellation of direct flights from Japan last May.

In addition, she said, after some fierce competition among low-cost carriers from Korea, they saw a stabilization of flights last year.

Aldan-Pierce said the CNMI is looking forward to the start of direct flights from Japan by Skymark Airlines next year.
Aldan-Pierce welcomed the presence of Skymark representatives, who joined the meeting and talked about their company and its successful operations in Japan.

Budget cut

Due to Yutu, the MVA now expects a $1.4 million drop in its budget for fiscal year 2019—about 16 percent less than last fiscal year.

Aldan-Pierce said the budget includes a million dollars allotted to other agencies, including 2 percent or at least $300,000 each for the municipalities of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota for charter flight promotions, island beautification, and other tourism-related projects.

She said they will also give $50,000 to the Division of Parks and Recreation, which maintains many tourist sites, and another $50,000 to the NMI Museum of History and Culture.

That will leave MVA with about $13.4 million to work with this year.

She said they will continue to monitor hotel occupancy tax and make additional adjustments as the year progresses.

Destination enhancement projects.

Since the MVA’s last general membership meeting, it has moved forward or completed a number of destination enhancement projects: the railing repairs and bench construction at I Chen’chon Bird Sanctuary on Rota; the completion of Tinian and Rota signs that are awaiting installation; the request for proposals for improvements at Paseo de Marianas; and the Flower Islands Project.

Aldan-Pierce said the latte stone-shaped flower sculpture at the airport is completed and hanging flower pots on the lamp-posts will be replanted by the Saipan Mayor’s Office.

MVA is also planning for a larger flower project at Banzai Cliff.

Honors

Aldan-Pierce cited a list of acknowledgements for the CNMI this year.

The Teteto Beach on Rota was voted as No. 1 Reader’s Choice Best Beach at Dive and Travel Awards at the annual Marine Diving Fair in Japan last April.

The CNMI picked up the Pacific Asia Travel Association Gold Award for its Official Marianas Guide Certification Program, a recognition for outstanding education in the industry.

The CNMI was included in the Top 10 semi-guided destinations according to Tuniu, one of the top online travel agencies in China.

Aldan-Pierce said CNMI emerged as the favorite destination of Cantonese, as announced at the 2018 China International Tourism Expo Guangdong, based on a reader survey of Southern Metropolis Daily, an influential newspaper in southern China.

She said CNMI also came out as No. 1 most popular Pacific island destination among Chinese tourists, according to Mafengwo, one of China’s largest online websites.