Familiarization tours take flight in October

Faced with the possibility of a significant budget reduction for fiscal year 2005, the Marianas Visitors Authority continues to push forward with scheduled media and agent familiarization tours for the Northern Marianas—Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. In FY04, the Northern Marianas received over $16 million in exposure value from major markets such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and mainland China.

With the onset of FY05, the MVA has welcomed several media and agent groups to the Northern Marianas on a familiarization tour this October 2005. The groups were coming in from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Australia. Currently, the MVA has extended their support to groups including BC Card and Golf Digest from Korea, Continental representative from Cairns, Australia, media representatives from Hong Kong, and Continental agents from Japan for the month.

The groups were in the Northern Marianas familiarizing themselves with the activities and offerings of a Marianas vacation. Specific visits, such as the visit of Golf Digest included the familiarization of golf courses, tourist sites, and attractions on Saipan and Rota. A monthly publication, Golf Digest, Korea circulates 85,000 copies of their magazine targeting high end Korean golfers ages 30 to 50. The recent coverage of Golf Digest, Korea will be published in their November 2004 issue with total exposure value over $36,000 for the Northern Marianas.

With the expected direct service of Continental Airlines from Hong Kong to Saipan, the MVA welcomed media representatives from Hong Kong earlier this month. The Hong Kong media group included representatives from Apple Daily (circulation of 343,660), Ming Pao Daily (circulation of 96,579), and Sing Tao Daily (circulation of 85,000). The media group managed to complete a full familiarization tour of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. The focus of their visit is to experience first hand the destination’s culture and its activities to include spa and beauty, shopping, tourist/scenic sites, and popular beach spots. Total combined exposure value from this familiarization is over $175,000.

The agent familiarization visits from Continental Airlines included a Continental representative from Cairns, Australia and JTB travel agents from Japan. The Cairns representative visited Saipan for hotel site inspections, golf course site visits, and collection of informational material of the Northern Marianas. The Cairns Office is looking at possibilities of creating packages to the Marianas islands including Guam and Saipan. On the other hand, the visit conducted by the travel agents from Japan made their way to the island of Rota on a familiarization tour of the island and its attributes. The Continental sponsored visit to Rota was to promote the Continental Connection service operated by Cape Air providing the ease of access to the island of Rota from Guam or Saipan.

“The MVA will continue to promote the Northern Marianas destination for its fine attributes and activities throughout the year with familiarization tours such as these just completed. These efforts provide for larger publicity of the destination and exposure of our MVA members” said Martin Duenas, acting managing director.

The following MVA members have contributed to the success of the mentioned familiarization visits: Korean Tour Association of Saipan, DFS Galleria, Saipan World Resort, Double Hook-Rota, Laolao Bay Golf Resort, Kingfisher Golf Links, Chung Gi Wa Restaurant, Rakuen Restaurant, Pacific Islands Club, Pacific Gardenia Hotel, Koreana Tours Bureau, Tasi Tours & Transportation, Inc., Dai-Ichi Hotel Saipan Beach, Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, Pacific Development Inc., Sea Star Inc., Rota Resort & Country Club, Rota Coconut Village, The Rota Hotel, and Sirena Marine Service-Rota.