Teno to do marketing promotion in Japan
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio will leave next week along with a group of local delegation to a trade and travel show in Japan to personally promote the Northern Marianas in that country that has long been the island’s main source of tourists.
The Marianas Visitors Authority and several tourist-related establishments in the Commonwealth are expected to jointly undertake marketing campaign highlighting various local attractions in the fair organized by Japan Association of Travel Agents or JATA.
“I feel that it’s time for us to go out and keep promoting the CNMI so that we will have more visitors coming here,” said the governor in an interview yesterday.
This is not the first time Mr. Tenorio is attending the event, the largest gathering of tour operators and travel agencies in Japan, as he pointed out that he used to be part of the CNMI delegation during his first two terms in office in the 1980’s.
He was also the first chairman of the defunct visitors bureau where he prioritized local participation to the JATA affair. The trade and travel show is held once every two years.
“I’ve always tried to be part of the group to promote the CNMI,” Mr. Tenorio explained. “I feel tourism is very important for us and I still maintain that I’m part of the organization not only as a governor but as my responsibility as an individual.”
Japanese travelers to the CNMI account for about 80 percent of the total number of visitors to the island.
But the economic crisis that hit much of East Asia in 1997 has sent the local tourism industry into a tailspin for the last two years, forcing nearly 2,000 tourist-related businesses to close down and pulling down government revenues by 20 percent.
