Micronesia urged to develop cruise tourism

An official of the Pacific Asia Travel Association has urged tourism officials in the Northern Marianas and other Micronesian islands to develop cruise tourism, considered as one of the biggest growth areas in the travel industry.

According to Sharon Hannaford, PATA managing director in the Pacific, officials in various Micronesian islands should begin developing their port facilities so that they can sell their destinations to various cruise companies.

Ms. Hannaford said this market will ensure the arrival of high quality of tourists on a regular basis which would have low impact on the destination. Enticing the cruise vessels would also resolve problems of constructing big hotels to accommodate guests.

PATA members covering the Micronesia Chapter arrived here for a three-day conference to discuss issues confronting the travel industry in the region. The Micronesian Chapter alone has 150 members.

Since last year, the Commonwealth Ports Authority has started enticing Japanese cruise vessels to visit the Northern Marianas in a move to increase visitor arrivals and save the island’s sagging tourism economy.

With its modern ports facility, CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas believes that the CNMI will not have any difficulty enticing Japanese cruise companies to regularly bring in visitors here and eventually make Saipan as their home port.

Mr. Salas said the ports authority will seek the help of the Marianas Visitors Authority in tapping the cruise tourism market. He said the CNMI can learn from the promotional efforts being undertaken by Hawaii, which has been aggressively carrying out marketing efforts in attracting cruise vessels.

The population of the senior travel sector in Japan, considered the main market of the cruise industry, with 20 million Japanese already over 64 years old.

This early, many cruise lines have started offering trips to celebrate the turn of the century by having a cruise in Asia with an opportunity to sail across the International Dateline.

Cruise passengers spent an estimated $1.2 billion at Caribbean destinations in 1996, almost 9 percent of total expenditures by all visitors. The average expenditure was $112 per port call.

Based on the recent cruise conference, the US Virgin Islands records more than $100 million in passenger spending, which is 46 percent of the total cruise expenditures for all visitors.

Cruise industry spending in the US is projected to reach $18.3 billion by 2002, according to a study commissioned by the International Council of Cruise Line.