NMI participates in CITM 2006 Kunming

KUNMING, Yunan, China—To illustrate its commitment to the Chinese market, the Marianas Visitors Authority, the official tourism board of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, comprised of the three main islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, has sent a delegation to the China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2006 Kunming.

The MVA participated in conjunction with Century Tours and Tinian Dynasty Holidays, the two major tour operators who have been authorized by the Chinese and CNMI governments to issue electronic Visitor Entry Permits, the equivalent of a visa for the CNMI.

The group from the MVA was headed by Wayne Pangelinan, marketing manager of the MVA headquarters; Brenda Repeki, marketing assistant of the MVA headquarters; Shari Oliynyk, MVA representative China; and MVA representatives from Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Ronald Chen, general manager of Century Tours and Stonic Zhu, general manager of Tinian Dynasty Holiday also attended the show.

CITM 2006 is one of the most influential travel trade shows in the Asia Pacific region and was held from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27, 2005 at the Kunming International Convention Exhibition Center. The travel mart was opened to trade representatives from Nov. 24 to Nov. 25 and to the general public on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27.

This was the first time that MVA, Century Tours and Tinian Dynasty Holiday jointly took part in the CITM since the Northern Marianas was awarded Approved Destination Status from the China National Tourism Administration on Dec. 30, 2004 and officially received permission for organized group tours to the CNMI on April 1, 2005.

Century Tours and Tinian Dynasty Holiday both had booths at the CITM exhibition hall. The booths, numbers 4A05-4A12 and 4A09-4A10, respectively, were decorated with stunning pictures of the Northern Mariana Islands, showing the crystal clear blue sea water, the soft white sands, lush tropical forests and coconut trees and also the smiling local people of Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Highlighting the Century Tours and Tinian Dynasty Holiday booths were four dancers from the Chamolinian Cultural Village of the NMI, who performed exciting traditional dances regularly during the show.

“Welcome to my Marianas” is the key concept of the booth designs for CT and TDH. Visitors will experience a great deal of the Marianas including the beautiful Managaha Island, the ”pearl” of Saipan, with its wide range of marine activities; the Blue Grotto, voted the No. 2 dive site in the world by “Diving Magazine”; as well as a variety of historical relics of the World War II, including the Atomic Bomb Pit on Tinian, where the atomic bombs that ended the war were kept. In addition, the breathtaking scenery, delightful local delicacies, Chamorro cultural performances are also some of the CNMI’s many diverse attractions. Compared with other island destinations, the CNMI is a comprehensive playground in one destination, a paradise beyond imagination, allowing tourists to have fun in the clear blue skies, explore the teaming underwater marine life, hike up naturally beautiful hills and explore lush jungles.

The “undiscovered gems” of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota offer something for everyone in one location from a vacation full of activities to a quite peaceful retreat.

MVA Managing Director Vicky Benavente said, “The Northern Mariana Islands is a relatively new and exciting destination among 92 ADS countries and areas open to the Chinese people. They are also the closest and safest American destination to the lovely eastern country of China and Chinese visitors can obtain visitors’ entry permits easily and quickly. We regard China, which has the largest population in the world, as one of the most crucial overseas markets for the CNMI.”

Chinese outbound travelers reached the 28 million mark in 2004 and the World Tourism Organization initially predicted the number of Chinese outbound tourists to reach 100 million by 2020. This makes China a huge potential market for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota of the Northern Marianas.

In order to encourage Chinese tourists to visit the CNMI, in early 2005 MVA China constructed a tailor-made Chinese website (http://www.mymarianas.com.cn). The website was used to host a nationwide competition in May with the Diamond Trading Company, to encourage overseas wedding and honeymoon tourism, as did the Shanghai Rose Wedding Formality, a group wedding held in the Northern Marianas in October.

The website also hosted other trade and public promotional activities in China, such as an on-line promotion which attracted 33,000 netizens to the MVA mini-site, http://www.mymarianas.com.cn/diary/index.html, in the four weeks with registered users standing at more than 3,800 netizens, an 11-percent registration rate, high rate by industry standards.

At the end of October, 38 representatives from Asiana Airlines and the heads of key travel agents from northern China, including China International Travel Service, China Youth Travel Service and New China Comfort Travel, Ltd., visited the CNMI to help further promote the CNMI as the best destination for Chinese people.

As a result all of these great efforts, Wayne Pangelinan, Marketing Manager of MVA HQ proudly announced, “In the fiscal year 2005, Saipan, Tinian and Rota, of the Northern Marianas received 32,441 visitors from Mainland China, a significant 11-percent increase in visitor arrivals compared with fiscal year 2004.

When talking about promotion in China in 2006, Pangelinan announced, “MVA will continue to promote to travel enthusiasts and growing niche markets, such as the golf, wedding and honeymoon markets, the MICE market and the expatriate market, in conjunction with trade partners in China. MVA also plans to expand its markets to the major second tier cities in China.”

Acting with the MVA, the CNMI’s two major travel agents in China, Century Tours and Tinian Dynasty Holiday contributed a great deal to promoting CNMI tourism in China.

“We recently designed a golf package to encourage more golf enthusiasts to visit the CNMI,” said Ronald Chan. Chan and his team have been enthusiastically marketing these and other packages in China to increase tourism to the Northern Marianas.

Stonic Chu also has great expectations for the Chinese tourism market in the CNMI “Now people can take a four-hour, direct flight from Shanghai and Guangzhou to the CNMI and it is very convenient. We are seriously working on opening direct routes from Beijing to bring more and more Chinese people to these beautiful islands. We are very confident about the further development of the Chinese market.” Chu said to China Tourism News, a major Beijing publication.