AMP Visitor Center sets new schedule

The American Memorial Park Visitor Center is changing its schedule starting next year as part of efforts to provide better service and operations for local and international guests.

Norma Warwick, AMP Visitor Center sales associate and visitor assistant, said the change in schedule would mean an earlier opening time in the morning for early visitors.

Effective Jan. 1, the Visitor Center will open at 10am from Tuesday to Sunday, while closing time will be at 5pm. The Visitor Center is closed on Mondays for maintenance.

The Center, however, will be open until 8pm on Thursdays to give way to more visitors attending the weekly Street Market along Coral Avenue in Garapan. Warwick said the Street Market usually lures community members as well as tourists to the museum.

The AMP Visitor Center is still free of charge to visitors.

Since the Visitor Center opened in May this year, it has accommodated visitors ranging from locals residents to Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, and other nationalities, Warwick said, adding that a lot of veterans have also visited the center for nostalgia’s sake. She said the Japanese, however, are still the center’s major visitors.

The AMP Visitors Center, a 710,000-square-foot building, was officially opened in May and was completed at a cost of $5.7 million.

It was built to honor the war dead and veterans; honor the suffering and sacrifices made by Mariana Islands peoples by telling their stories and creating a memorial for those who died; stimulate interest, awareness, and sensitivity about World War II events on Saipan; and communicate the vital strategic role that Saipan played in the military objectives of both the United States and Japan.

The Visitors Center also aims to provide meaningful interpretation for the Visitor Center’s diverse audiences, including Chamorro, Carolinians, Americans, Japanese, Korean, other Asian tourists, veterans and other military personnel; provide a place for reflection on the historic events of World War II and how they affected those involved, and the lives and world today; and, make visitors aware of other World War II sites and natural history sites in the Marianas.

It also intends to serve as a “living memorial” to the past and present cultures of Saipan and the Northern Mariana Islands by providing a venue for community and cultural events, meetings and activities; and to promote stewardship of the park’s mangrove wetland and other threatened and endangered habitats in the Northern Mariana Islands and around the world.