Previous Story
HANMI against casino for Saipan
|
Posted on Dec 29 1998
Majority of the members of the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands are not infavor of the creation of the casino industry on Saipan because it would directly compete with the existing hotel casino complex on Tinian.
Ron Sablan, president of HANMI, said the most of the hotel operators have also expressed concern on the social impact of the casinos on the island.
HANMI conducted a survey among its member hotels after a proposal was made to reconsider the creation of a casino industry on Saipan in an effort to revive the local tourism industry.
Former Lt. Gov. Pete A. Tenorio earlier urged the legislature to reconsider the creation of a casino industry on Saipan to generate the badly needed revenues for the CNMI government.
The establishment of a casino will be challenge to those who really believe that the CNMI is at a crossroads between becoming once again a pathetic ward of the federal government and one that can rebound and tackle its own problems through its own locally conceived and implemented economic programs, according to Tenorio.
Many observers, however, believe that a casino industry on Saipan will not save the shattered tourism economy which has been severely affected by Asia’s financial crisis.
The financially troubled Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino has been finding it hard to survive as a result of the double-digit decline in tourist arrivals. Some 500 workers have already been removed for the last several months.
Officials of Tinian Dynasty have been looking for ways to convince airlines to provide direct service from Hong Kong to Tinian and Taiwan To Tinian in a move to save the casino hotel complex.
The Marianas Visitors Authority has been negotiating with the Department of Labor and Immigration to allow the entry of Chinese tourist from mainland China who will most likely visit Tinian Dynasty.
