The need to reinvent NMI tourism
It seems we’re stuck in the trenches of assorted crises and obvious inability to part with old paradigms. We’re dazed seemingly very tentative what to make of a lagging tourism industry that continues to reel southward.
Meanwhile, nothing seems to be in the works to review trends in visitor expectations or other viable markets where we can cut our share of tourists.
Guam is ahead of the CNMI. It has revitalized Tumon area while our red district remains bad news for traveling families. Obviously, we’ve been snoozing a bit too long.
It’s time to flex our muscles so we reinvent tourism ever mindful that there are other competing destinations nearby that are fully equipped for changes in the attitude of travelers from Japan and Asia.
For instance, the tourism ministry in Malaysia has launched an aggressive campaign to rebrand the country into a “shopping paradise” alongside its more traditional image as a tropical beach resort, according to Asia Week.
Tourism is Malaysia’s No. 3 income earner, behind manufacturing and petroleum, and accounted for 4.8 percent of gross national product last year. The goal of the ministry of tourism is to push tourism to the No. 1 spot. Part of the strategy is to change the nation into a shopping destination on par with Hong Kong, Singapore and London.
Last March, the ministry pushed through the cabinet a measure to scrap import taxes on luxury goods with a factory price of more than $50. It has reduced the prices of many goods by around 20 percent, making shopping in Malaysia “very competitive with the rest of the region”.
What’s known as basement bargain prices for hotel rooms that included five star luxury hotels has started increasing. Malaysia has been able to woo some 322,000 mainland Chinese tourists in the first seven months of this year. It has started exploring up and coming tourists from India. It has also launched a new promotional campaign “Malaysia, Truly Asia” focusing on the nation’s mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures and festivals.
At the peak of the Japanese economic crisis, Japan started marketing resorts and other attractions from within. It allowed its traveling public to visit interesting places at home as the country attempts economic recovery efforts that forced many to defer vacations to foreign destinations.
A recent survey of Japanese repeat visitors to Hawaii still rate the Aloha State a favorite destination. Air fare is cheap, options for family activities are plentiful, plus it’s a very exciting destination between Asia and the US mainland. Apparently, we haven’t made a dent to lure Japanese visitors to our version of paradise. It’s competition for the same dollar and if the Aloha State still offers better packages, we will continue lose out to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
The NMI must transcend its archaic activities which have been around since the dawn of tourism in these isles. In other words, the group of tourists who once flocked to these isles have aged and no longer can afford traveling as senior citizens. For the CNMI to move forward, it needs to study trends in customer expectations, including other Asian markets. Unless this is done, we’d be stuck in our old ways that no longer work while other destinations reinvent themselves. Si Yuus Maase`!
