Tourism legislation or death to tourism

This is another “I told you so” because I have mentioned on several occasions in the past decade that we need a “Tourists Act” to protect tourists who literally represent our economic commitment, our investments and our main source of income. The only excuse I ever got was that it would be unfair to local people to make a law especially for tourists, which is ridiculous because I’m sure every local wants our tourists to be safe and to have an enjoyable time without fear of being a victim of criminals. Common sense should tell most people that we must protect the tourists or our economy is going to suffer.

Tourists represent the very lifeblood of our economy and we should do all we can to protect them because the CNMI literally bleeds every time a tourist is victimized; we are dying a slow death. Each time a tourist is victimized it makes the entire tourist industry suffer from the consequences. I want to commend the Mariana Country Club general manager Gloria C. Cavanagh for speaking up and asking for more protection for our tourists, especially when I read in the same newspaper of a tourist complaining about being brutalized. I must pose the question to our lawmakers: Who cares enough to sponsor a Tourists Act? We must show tourists we care and a law for tourists would do a lot to establish this perception because now it looks like we don’t care. No one can deny that we must do something, given the number of crimes against tourists.

There are all kinds of examples of special laws targeted at certain behaviors and certainly a Tourists Act would fit into this category. There are many states that have gun laws that apply additional time whenever a gun is used in a crime. The CNMI could certainly place a mandatory five years to run consecutive to the criminal time, which would do a great deal to deter crimes against tourists. Presently, laws and legislation are only in the interest of local people who represent just 27 percent of the population-a sad fact. But I can assure our present and future lawmakers that our tourist industry and our economy will be doomed from the adverse effects of our present laws if we don’t fix these archaic laws.

Furthermore, the CNMI government is supposed to be for all people in the CNMI, not just locals. CNMI laws must become more reflective in supporting equality, free enterprise, the rights and safety of all people living in the CNMI-especially those visiting the CNMI who literally bring us their money! You decide leaders: legislation and better protection or a slow death to tourism.

I also previously mentioned the ability of technology to install remote cameras in all critical tourists’ locations that can be monitored from a single post. We can do this almost for free because I know there are federal grants available to help the CNMI with getting this type of equipment. The only question is who and when will someone do the necessary homework to get it done. The CNMI shouldn’t wait until we get a black eye in the international news for crimes against tourists before we try to do something. The leader(s) who takes the lead on this will certainly be leading because doing nothing and playing the denial game won’t work. Our leaders tried the denial game for years with the alien labor complaints and their lies were eventually exposed in Congress on the national stage. Do we really want to continue doing nothing to improve protection for tourists? Preserve the integrity of our tourism industry before it’s too late.

Ambrose M. Bennett
Kagman, Saipan