Travel agents from PROC arriving in April

A group of travel agents from Guangzhou, China will be arriving this month for a familiarization tour as part of CNMI’s effort to entice tourists from mainland China.

Expected to arrive are representatives of four Chinese government-owned travel agencies namely Guangzhou Merchants International Travel Co., China Guangdong Overseas Travel Corp., China Travel Service and GZL International Travel Service Ltd. They will be accompanied by Kenneth Wan, managing director of Continental Airlines.

Local tourism officials have been eyeing alternative markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to boost the island’s ailing tourism economy with the sharp decline in visitor arrivals from Japan and South Korea, the two main sources of tourists for the CNMI, due to the regional economic crisis.

Earlier, Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Perry J. Tenorio, Board Chair Dave M. Sablan and Marketing Director Norman Berg met with the travel agents in Guangzhou where they discussed the possibility of bringing in tourists from mainland China.

“It is a viable market that we would like to pursue but we are taking things cautiously since this deals with a lot of issues,” said Mr. Tenorio.

Mr. Sablan has asked Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to adopt the procedure followed by the U.S. Consulate in China in processing the travel documents of Chinese nationals who travel to the United States.

In a move to facilitate the entry of selected Chinese nationals on the island, Mr. Sablan recommended to the governor to allow the initial entry of visitors from Guangzhou on a trial basis.

The travel agents from China previously said that they would prefer to send a minimum of 10 tourists per group who will be accompanied by staff from a tour agency.

Currently, the CNMI government allows Chinese nationals only with a valid U.S. visa to visit the island. Hong Kong residents are not required to present authorization to board when they travel to the Northern Marianas.

The CNMI as well as the United States are not authorized destination for nationals of mainland China and travel to these destinations are approved on a case by case basis.

According to the Hong Kong Immigration Department, some 45,175,166 people from mainland China traveled out of the country in 1999 alone. A travel data record from China Travel Services revealed that 221,196 went to the United States in 1998. Last year outbound travel from China reached 53,143,675, of which 219,114 to the United States.

A Chinese national who would like to apply for a passport and a visa to the United States usually visits any of the four travel agencies for assistance. The issuance of a passport depends on the discretion of the Chinese government.

Depending on the required length of travel abroad and other factors, the Chinese government would issue either a one-year, two-year or even a five-year passport. In most cases, those traveling as tourists are issued with passport valid for one year.

Those applying for visa undergo a thorough check of their bank account, criminal record and personal background which are then forwarded to the U.S. Consular Office.

Processing of these applications usually takes a day or two especially in these were coursed through government-sanctioned travel agencies. Anyone under 30 years old is automatically sent to the U.S. Consulate office for personal interview.

A representative from China Travel Service told MVA officials that they have taken extra precaution in making sure that their clients return after the trip.