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ARC manager bids Saipan ‘sayonara’
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Posted on Aug 28 2004
The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands yesterday awarded the permanent emeritus merit to Aqua Resort Club’s general manager in appreciation of his over 15 years of service to the CNMI’s hotel industry.
ARC general manager Mark Murai will be leaving the island on Monday, to take on a more challenging job as vice president of the Tokyo-based Ken Aqua Hotel and Resort.
The emeritus award grants Murai lifetime membership to HANMI.
Murai has been an active member of HANMI since 1989, when Aqua Resort opened on the island. He has served as the group’s president for two years and vice president for four years. He has also acted as integral adviser to the association that describes itself as “the largest investment group in the CNMI.”
The hotel executive practically built and saw Aqua Resort develop into one of the biggest hotel on the island. He came to the island during ARC’s planning stage and stayed for the construction and eventual opening in 1989.
“I never imagined I’d stay on Saipan for more than three years,” he said.
Murai noted that the past 15 years have been very challenging. He recalled the series of events that led to the ups and downs of the tourism industry in the CNMI, including the economic boom in the early 1990s, the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist bombings, and the SARS epidemic and outbreak of the war in Iraq last year—“not to mention the typhoons.”
“But we survived,” he said. “Now, I feel sad about leaving Saipan. I know I will always be attached to this island.”
