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Speaker backs continued access to Chinese, Russian visitor markets
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Posted on Aug 28 2008
House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios is pushing for the CNMI’s continued access to the emerging Chinese and Russian visitor markets.
In an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday, Palacios said he instructed Rep. Diego T. Benavente to look into the visa waiver issue and maybe come up with a joint resolution with the Senate.
The joint resolution, Palacios said, will urge the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to consider the CNMI’s request for visa waiver for emerging tourism markets.
“Because those [federalization] rules will be in place [soon], I would like to be informed as much as possible as to what is going on. And I want to have access to this to look at how it is coming along,” he said.
The speaker said he wants to ensure that the regulations will be beneficial to the intent of the federalization law and for the Commonwealth.
Palacios said after reading the recent joint report of the Marianas Integrated Immigration Task Force regarding the implementation of the CNMI-Guam visa waiver program, he believes that the Legislature must come up with a unified position on the issue.
The Task Force is committed to ensuring that Public Law 110-229 (federalization) is implemented in accordance with congressional intent to preserve and expand tourism to the island by preserving access to Chinese and Russian tourists for the CNMI and extending the same access to Guam under combined Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program.
According to the Task Force’s joint report, the loss of the China and Russia markets would have a significant adverse impact on the CNMI’s economy.
From 2008 to 2010, the report says, these two markets alone are projected to contribute a total of $1.01 billion in tourist spending, government revenues, and peripheral economic activities.
The report indicates that millions of dollars invested to attract and serve these two markets are in jeopardy if visitor access from these two countries are unreasonably restricted.
CNMI’s tourism industry reportedly has invested approximately $35 million to market itself in China.
CNMI began welcoming Chinese tourists in 1998 under the Visitor Entry Permit process. The Commonwealth started catering to Russian tourists in 1996, also under the VEP process.
