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Resemblance of peak season expected by January
The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Island hopes the CNMI will see at least a resemblance of its regular peak season by January.
In an interview with HANMI chair Gloria Cavanagh at the American Red Cross-NMI Chapter office last week, Cavanagh this is the hope of most HANMI hotels.
“There is some hope as far as recovering some in December and, hopefully, by January. …We won’t be back to normal but we will have some resemblance of what a busy season would be,” she said.
Cavanagh cited that Saipan was able to welcome tourists again since Nov. 20, when the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport opened its terminals to international flights.
“That was a really good decision not only for the hotels but for the economy as a whole. …It’s a wonderful thing. You go basically past Oleai and into the Garapan core and you’ll see a bunch of tourists walking around and enjoying themselves…” she said
Currently, there are still three HANMI member-hotels that remain closed: the Coral Ocean Point Golf Resort, the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, and the Saipan World Resort.
Cavanagh said that PIC and World Resort are expected to resume operations soon but COP remains uncertain.
“As far as the southern part of our island [is concerned], when it comes to two of our properties, PIC and COP, we suffered the most damage. …In a couple of weeks [PIC] will be opening. We actually have our first guests scheduled to come in on the 20th and we’re going to be fully operational,” she said. Cavanagh is also the general manager of PIC Saipan
Saipan Tribune archives quotes Gov. Ralph DLG Torres as saying that accommodation of tourists is dependent on the availability of rooms.
When asked about the current number of tourists on island following Super Typhoon Yutu, Cavanagh said that she does not have the numbers yet and will have them after the Marianas Visitors Authority board meeting last week.
