Inter-island tour package seen to boost tourism

Entangled in a virtually long period of economic slump, the Marianas Visitors Authority is now looking at working with its Guam counterpart for a possible inter-island tour package to perk up visitor arrivals in the region.

CNMI tourism officials are planning to meet with their compeer in the Guam Visitors Authority to discuss concerted programs that may encourage increased visitors traffic to the Mariana Islands.

MVA has expressed willingness to further programs that would increase visitor arrivals to the CNMI, including the possible introduction of inter-island tour packages as previously proposed.

Both Guam and the CNMI consider Japanese tourists their prime and major market. While there is a competition between the two islands for the Japanese market, more can be achieved through cooperation.

This may include a Guam-Saipan tour package, or visitors who would be disembarking on Guam may be given the opportunity to visit Saipan and the other way around.

Government officials and industry leaders earlier noted that proposals to come up with a three- or four-city tour package can reboot the Commonwealth’s shattering tourism industry.

Previous studies have suggested an alternative tourism package that will help generate more visitors for tour destinations in countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tourist arrivals have slumped due to the continuous plunge of local currencies against the US dollar. Since the Northern Marianas operates on US currency, the cost of going to the island or the mainland is the same.

Discussions between government and private agencies throughout the region have also been resorted to in desperate hopes to revive the Micronesian Tourism Council.

“We have been talking about cooperation in the past and what needs to happen is the rebirth of the old regional tourism council which will really be the promotional arm of all tourist destinations in Micronesia,” industry officials said.

They also expressed confidence that the proposed multi-island tour packages that would allow tourists to visit not only one but several destinations in the region will help alleviate the problems faced by the industry.

“We are going to strongly urge inter-island tours so that people visiting this area will not only return after they have seen Guam. They should also enjoy visiting other areas like CNMI and the Carolines,” they added.

Visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas climbed 3.92 percent in January to reach 45,613, which shows that the island’s distressed tourism industry is slowly waking up from a three-year slumber that started in 1998.

Travelers from Japan have persistently positioned themselves as the prime source of revenues for the local tourism industry as the Marianas Visitors Authority disclosed a six-percent improvement on the number of Japanese tourists to the CNMI last month.

Last month’s growth in visitor arrivals from Japan came amid reduction in the number of charter flights between major cities in the North Asian country and Saipan.

MVA officials attribute the increase to the 5.8 percent improvement in passenger haul through direct flights from Japan to Saipan.