PATA official advises caution in selling NMI to Chinese tourists

A ranking official of the Pacific Asia Travel Association urged the local tourism industry yesterday to take caution in approaching the huge China market to ensure that the islands attract only high quality travelers.

PATA vice president Peter Semone, the keynote speaker at yesterday’s general membership meeting of the Marianas Visitors Authority, also advised the Northern Marianas to carefully study how it plans to suit the destination to the needs of Chinese travelers, saying it might turn away other tourism markets in the process.

“China is a very unique country and it poses a very unique challenge for the travel and tourism industry. China has 1.2 billion people and you’ll be amazed at how many people in China are quite wealthy, quite sophisticated and have traveled around the world. So when you approach the Chinese market, you want to make sure you’re getting quality visitors,” Semone said in an interview.

MVA chair David Sablan said MVA, along with the two companies currently providing charter service between China and the CNMI, aims to bring in a maximum of 50,000 Chinese visitors to the islands in 2005.

He said this is a manageable number, considering the hotels and facilities available in CNMI, as well as the passenger screening capacity of the currently understaffed Transportation Security Administration.

Semone agreed with Sablan’s approach.

“Think of the Chinese market as a water faucet. If you open the faucet too much too quickly, you’re going to be overwhelmed by Chinese visitors. You have to proceed in a very logical, procedural way,” he said.

Semone also warned the local travel industry of the possible impact of the Chinese market on other tourism markets.

“Don’t go too quickly because you’re going to flood the other markets. Unfortunately, you’re going to lose the very viable Japanese and Korean markets. So slowly but surely and methodically approach and develop the Chinese market,” he said.

Further, he noted that the Northern Marianas will have to duplicate what it did in the past for the Japanese market if it wants to develop the Chinese market, especially in terms of language and dietary requirements.

“Mixing and matching markets is the road to disaster. Consult with experts for each market and analyze carefully how you plan to approach each market,” he said.

The CNMI is expected to receive an increased number of Chinese tourists after it formally receives the Approved Destination Status from the Chinese government this month.

With the Commonwealth having the ADS, the Marianas Visitors Authority will be able to freely conduct promotional and marketing campaigns in China.