Opportunity meets challenges

By BETTY BAI
Special to the Saipan Tribune

The U.S. visa process poses significant barriers to growth of tourism industries. On Feb. 13, the U.S. Embassy in China launched a new U.S. visa application policy, aimed at reducing the arduous application processing time to three weeks. Chinese applicants will now be allowed to renew their visas that have expired for less than four years without further interviews. Furthermore, the U.S. Embassy has also added 50 visa officers to its China service. Visa processing capacity in China is likely to increase by up to 40 percent in 2012. The new visa policy benefits both the U.S. and China tourism industries and is welcomed by U.S. consumer industries as well.

In China, outbound travel agencies used to advise their clients to register 50 days, even 100 days for statutory holidays, ahead of schedule. Once the travelers had other plans or could not make the schedule, they were likely to give up their trip to a U.S. destination and places where there is a lot less complicated visa requirement or no visa is required at all, such as the CNMI, might become their alternative choice.

The new, simplified U.S. visa procedure will definitely facilitate travel and help boost U.S. tourism. However, some business people in the CNMI interpret the new U.S. visa policy negatively and say it could worsen the current tourism situation on the islands. They have no shred of doubt that it does no favors to the CNMI.

External factors make a lot of people nervous, proof that the CNMI tourism business is fragile and highly vulnerable.

Recently a press release revealed that Hawaii, Guam, and the CNMI are together pushing a unique and isolated visa waiver program catering to Chinese and Russian tourists.

Currently, tourists from China and Russia travel to the CNMI for a maximum of 45 days to stay without a visa requirement.

Hawaii, Guam, and the CNMI share similar elements of tropical destinations. By participating in removing visa restrictions for Hawaii and Guam, the CNMI is sort of promoting its rivals, but what can the CNMI do? Maybe the CNMI would be inclined to just to let the issue crank out or maybe it is simply a grudging acceptance of the facts and feels sorry for itself.

Speaking of fairness, Hawaii and Guam have every right to pursue their own interests; so does the U.S. mainland. Hawaii and Guam also have their clout among D.C. politicians.

Self-pity won’t do the CNMI any good. While any associated impacts on CNMI tourism remains to be seen, this poses a huge test to the government on how to protect the local tourism industry and how to sustain economic growth.

The CNMI is also facing internal challenges; its tourism industry has hardly been flawless. It has a dauntingly long list of things to do right: upgrade the tourist facilities; stabilize the airlines; open new flights routes; diversify markets; stop the infighting; and unify the tourism industries of Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the Northern Islands by promoting each island’s uniqueness, offering tourists an integrated, ONE Commonwealth.

Bracing for competition, the CNMI joins Hawaii and Guam to promote Pacific islands as a group of tropical travel destinations. The CNMI won’t be able to control external factors but it should at least be willing to do something when circumstances require. Presumably, the CNMI being selfless would get credit, recognition, or acknowledgement by Hawaii and Guam in return for sharing tourism resources in the future. Let’s hope this is not just wishful thinking.

Betty Bail is the publisher of the Chinese newspaper in the CNMI.