MVA board chair: NMI tourism industry is 24/7

The Commonwealth tourism industry is not only everyone’s business, but is a whole-day, whole-year service as well, according to Marian Aldan-Pierce, chairperson of the Marianas Visitors Authority board yesterday.

Speaking to travel partners, lawmakers, and business groups that attended yesterday’s MVA bi-annual general membership meeting at Fiesta Resort and Spa’s Hibiscus Hall, Aldan-Pierce said that the CNMI needs to rethink the way it operates around the concept of 24/7 tourism.

“We are a resort destination, open 24/7, 365 days a year. We should look at the way some of our government agencies are scheduled to work,” she said.

Just because government funding is limited doesn’t’ mean that tourism development has to stop. The involvement of all partners, community members, and government agencies will make a difference, she said.

MVA was appropriated a budget of only $6 million this fiscal year, 70 percent of which will go toward promoting the destination. This is a 7-percent decline from last fiscal year’s budget, which also had the agency operating under “baseline mode.”

Baseline mode refers to doing just the basic marketing promotions for the Commonwealth such as maintaining representative offices, websites, and proven successful promotions such as the Happy Children in Paradise Campaign.

The limited funding also resulted in the suspension of ad-hoc committees that bring great ideas and strategies for better promotions.

This fiscal year, Aldan-Pierce said that MVA will continue what it has been doing in the past: partnering with private and public sectors to continue the services that are being hampered by the lack of fund.

She disclosed that hotels, for example, have been spending more than MVA in enticing tourists to come and return to the islands.

MVA, according to Aldan-Pierce, faces a greater challenge this fiscal year but she remains optimistic that with the right collaboration among parties, the industry would soon recover from its declining situation.

Aldan-Pierce urged community members to also put in their share to keep their “home” a healthy place, not only for tourists but for their families as well.

She said the maintenance of tourist sites will continue to be a big challenge because the Division of Parks and Recreation was only allocated $8,000 to do its job, which includes maintaining tourist spots. In fiscal year 2010, the division was allocated $98,000; that went down to $65,000 last fiscal year.

“We are cognizant that our industry does not exist in a vacuum. We need not only do site maintenance but also public safety, health services, education, and utilities,” she said.

Because tourism is a 24/7 service, Aldan-Pierce recommends that “we should look at the way some of our government agencies are scheduled to work. We should have our prisoners come out and maintain the medians and major thoroughfares or have contractors clean the streets late at night or early in the morning.”

The community and other sectors, she said, can put in their share by adopting not only pavilions and beaches but pathways as well.

She urged the keeping of lights on in sites frequented by tourists. This way, she said, copper-wire stealing may also be averted.

Another continuing challenge, she said, is that the destination “simply looks tired and unkempt.” Both public and private sectors lack sufficient funding for basic needs such as renovating hotels and maintaining visitor sites.

She also believes that the community has not fully embraced the tourism industry as the islands’ sole economic driver.