MVA allots $313K for fam tours

The Marianas Visitors Authority’s board holds a special meeting yesterday at its office in San Jose, presided by newly-elected chair Viola Alepuyo. (BEA CABRERA)

After over a year of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moves to reopen the CNMI to tourists are underway and the Marianas Visitors Authority board will be allocating $313,000 to restart a program that aims to promote and sell the destination to prospective tourists.

Restarting the “familiarization tours” program—where tour owners and operators, influencers, and media personnel from other countries are invited for special guided tours to see activities and attractions in the CNMI—is seen as a first step to opening borders and welcoming visitors once again.

A total of $313,000 was allotted to restart the program and the funding was approved in an executive session at the MVA special board of directors meeting yesterday. The meeting was presided by MVA’s new board chair Viola Alepuyo.

The funding for the familiarization tour program—more colloquially known as “fam tours”—will be borrowed from the $3 million that MVA received from the Department of Finance allotment from February to April 2021, according to MVA managing director Priscilla M. Iakopo. That money fully paid MVA’s share of the Hotel Occupancy Tax in fiscal year 2019.

“We have a balance of $2.4 million from [that amount]. …We asked the board to approve the allocations out of the $2.4 million we received, which are payment to municipalities—Saipan, Tinian and Rota—to reimburse our building fund, for familiarization tour of $313,000 and [for] payroll for at least three months,” she said.

“We had a meeting with the Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig last Monday and he mentioned that he will be remitting another $3 million to MVA and he said he was going to do that this week. …If we receive the fiscal year 2021 budget allocation and appropriations then, we will reimburse those items back,” she added.

Alepuyo said she cannot overemphasize the importance of “fam tours” for visitors from South Korea. “It is still in the planning phase but is an essential component of our tourism resumption plans in order to jumpstart our economy so our government can continue to provide essential government services such as health care and public safety,” she said.

“We are planning on 50 participants in the fam tour made up of social media influencers, YouTubers, media and film crew, and travel agents, their CEOs, and managers who will be able to learn and experience the safety measures we will have in place in order to keep our community safe. The tour will include visits to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota,” she added.

To temper the worries of the community about opening borders to tourists once again, Alepuyo said all visitors will be required to comply with the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force protocols. “This will include a negative PCR test prior to arrival, testing upon arrival, a five-day mandatory quarantine, and then another test on the fifth day before they are released from quarantine.”

“These plans have been a result of months of communication with the COVID-19 Task Force and CNMI public health officials to ensure that any activity related to the resumption of tour marketing is aligned with established health and safety protocols and is in the best interest of CNMI residents,” she added.

Iakopo said that MVA would like to pay approximately 34% of its share of the Hotel Occupancy Tax funds to the municipalities of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota for tourism enhancement purposes.

“Thirty-four percent will be about $192,000 for Saipan, $179,000 for Tinian, and $191,000 for Rota. The numbers are not exactly the same and that is due to funds already remitted to fund several events that the municipalities have asked for. …Then from previous board meetings, the board has approved that whenever we receive Hotel Occupancy Tax funding, we will at least remit $5,000 to each of the municipalities,” she said.

“Currently, there are four MVA employees on Tinian and on Rota. …Municipalities use the money for tourism enhancement for any event that they might have. We partner with them with all the beautification project and all tourism related activity,” she added.

The law requires that a report is made to account how money is spent and Alepuyo asked a report be submitted on how these funds are spent by the mayors of each municipality.

As for destination enhancement, Alepuyo said MVA’s management and staff have been working hard in collaboration with the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers as well as private businesses in a Public Private Partnership program to get tourist sites ready to begin receiving tourists. “The PPP is a five-year commitment that aims to give our community a sense of ownership in the beautification and maintenance of our island’s most prized commodity—our natural and historical sites and our environment,” she added.