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MVA pushes sports tourism, starting with Ironman 70.3
Marianas Visitors Authority is promoting the CNMI through sports tourism, highlighting an international sporting event on Saipan that will take place in early 2017.
MVA managing director Chris Concepcion said he plans to promote the CNMI through sports, starting with Ironman 70.3, which would be held on Saipan on March 11, 2017.
“We want to promote this active lifestyle to promoters overseas such as the Philippines, Korea, Japan, and China as a fun, fit, active, and healthy destination,” said Concepcion. “That’s how we want to brand ourselves—as islands of sports and paradise here in the middle of the Pacific.”
Concepcion said the CNMI is more than just beautiful sceneries. He thinks the unique terrain of Saipan would be perfect for hosting races and other sporting events that require challenging trails.
“You can go from sea level to a few hundred meters above sea level. You can go through jungles and through offroad paths. I believe it is unique to us—you don’t find these kinds of trails in the other islands here in Micronesia or in the Marianas,” said Concepcion.
He is particularly excited about Ironman 70.3, mainly because it will the first time that the world-renowned triathlon would be held in Micronesia.
Concepcion said the MVA, with the help of the Kiyokazu Fitness Club, was able to catch the attention of Ironman representatives.
“We had a lot of back and forth because a lot of representatives of Ironman were not familiar with Saipan and its potential to host that big of an event. It was a lot of [before] we finally got the green light,” he said.
The main issue came down to the capability of the CNMI to accommodate tourists and athletes alike.
“The Japan MVA team is working directly with the airlines to have seat blocks on Delta and possibly charter whole flights to bring in participants,” said Concepcion. “We are cautious because the hotel occupancy rate is really high, so we expect that these airlines, our hotel partners, and tour partners will work together so that when they bring in customers there are rooms for the customers.”
