Making Tourism Our Business: Reviving our Garapan tourist district
We couldn’t be more pleased about the decision of the Commonwealth Council for Arts & Culture to bring back the biggest weekly nighttime attraction in our destination, the Garapan Street Market.
The Garapan Street Market was initially created by the Marianas Visitors Authority in collaboration with other partners over two decades ago before the Arts Council took over its coordination, growing the market into a festive evening event of street food, arts and crafts, live entertainment and more. We look forward to it again being a “must see” for our visitors here on a Thursday night. The street market was so popular that not only did tour guides often make it part of their itinerary, but FITs—free, independent travelers—could be seen walking to the street market by the dozens, even when it was at its previous location further south.
The MVA also strongly supports the council’s decision to bring the market back to the street where it all started in the 1990s, Coral Tree Avenue in front of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan. If you haven’t noticed, until recently, just before the Garapan Revitalization Project went into full gear, Saipan’s main tourist district in downtown Garapan was looking—well, quite frankly—lackluster and sad. And also a bit scary at night for first time visitors. The hustle and bustle of the street market will enliven the area and deter illicit activities, thereby creating a positive impression for visitors and helping bring back foot traffic and business to the area.
With parking now available at Micro Beach, American Memorial Park, Beach Road, and all the inner streets of Garapan Core adjourning Coral Tree Ave., parking is more accessible. Not to mention, CNMI Transit has started bus routes since the market was suspended during the pandemic, so taking the bus is a great option for both visitors and residents coming from other villages.
The Garapan Street Market is just one more addition to the ongoing efforts to infuse new life into Garapan. The Garapan Revitalization Project being led by the Office of Planning and Development continues its momentum forward since the reopening of Paseo de Marianas to vehicular traffic. We can see the ongoing addition of more parking, sidewalks, newly paved roads, beautiful landscaping, stylish benches, and much-needed additional streetlights that will help turn darkened roads into welcoming walkways.
And there’s more happening than just hardware. A couple weeks ago ABC Stores reopened their outlet on Paseo de Marianas. The MVA has a contractor cleaning and conducting ground maintenance along a few major streets in the areas for several hours every week. Please keep an eye out for those hardworking folks early in the morning, greet and thank them, and drive safely!
There are good people doing good work in downtown Garapan. For decades, the Japanese Society of the Northern Mariana Islands, Japan-Saipan Travel Association, and Northern Marianas Dive Operators Association have rallied the community in bi-annual cleanups in the area before the Christmas and New Year holidays and before Golden Week. PDM Promoters has cleaned throughout the streets with young people for years, teaching them the importance of taking pride in having a clean community. During Marianas Tourism Month in May this year, students of the MY WAVE Clubs of Dandan Middle School, Hopwood Middle School, Marianas High School, Saipan Southern High School, and Da’ok Academy volunteered alongside the Department of Public Works and the Division of Parks and Recreation to paint curbs and medians on Beach Rd. Several legislators have invested their resources in cleanups, and even the Department of Corrections has jumped in on the action. We must pay special attention to Garapan. It is a microcosm of the economic landscape of the entire Marianas. We encourage Zoning, Commerce, Public Works, Finance and other regulatory agencies to allow for Garapan Core to become a creative space, if you will. Allow entrepreneurs to open shop freely, easily, with minimal restrictions, allowing for more creative ideas to flourish and hopefully take root. This may mean larger, brighter, more visible signs to attract customers, and more variety in the types of businesses permitted. Garapan Core should become a laboratory of innovation, entrepreneurship, capitalism, and discovery!
As we consider what needs to be done today to make a brighter future for Garapan, perhaps we can take a pointer from the past. Remember the days when every island business took pride in the appearance and cleanliness of their establishment? When a few minutes were spent in the morning cleaning up outside, including the sidewalk? We encourage businesses and residents in downtown Garapan to step outside and take a look at what potential customers see when they walk by. A little bit of paint and more sweeping could go a long way. That little patch of grass that sticks out on the corners of buildings, sign posts, or large rocks? Trim that grass to make your area more presentable. And let’s see citations issued and publicized for violations of the anti-littering law! We should not allow trash bins in Garapan Core to be placed on sidewalks 24/7 with their putrid smell and garbage sometimes overflowing onto the sidewalk, street or neighboring properties.
Working together as government, businesses, and community, we can breathe new life in our main tourist district of Garapan. We look forward to the continued progress.
Christopher A. Concepcion is the managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority.
