Pricing paradise out of tourism market

The price of visiting these isles will continue to be higher than neighboring Guam for as long as middle men in the industry milk every penny there is to suck out of an ailing sector.

A visitor is quietly routed to assorted middle men who demand for top dollar,real greed that drives up the cost of visiting these islands. We hardly see this in neighboring Guam or Hawaii.

It is an issue that must critically be probed if for no other reason than to ensure that in the end, the CNMI could avoid pricing itself out of the tourism market, if not, already.

HANMI too must thoroughly review some of its demands on small businesses operating in hotel beach fronts. There’s too much nit-picking, if not, politicking. For instance, a hotel issued a memo prohibiting jetski operators from picking flowers and, believe it or not, mango!

In the first place, the visitor asking for one hibiscus flower lives in the very hotel that issued the memo.

But then, why would one include prohibition on mango? Has anybody seen a mango grove in any of the hotels here? Warpedly strange, huh?

It’s a waste that it’s a hospitality industry, yet hotel management are far from being, well, hospitable, yeah? Are you sure you folks are in the right business?

Beach front vendors have also been asked not to use hotel restrooms and trash bins. Nice try, but let’s take a closer look at the issues.

The trash being collected come from tourists who patronize hotels who forbid beach vendors from using hotel trash bins.

When beachside vendors are forced to rent benjos, it adds to the overall cost of providing services to customers (tourists).

It’s these little expenses that pile up into huge bills at the end of the month. No wonder the NMI has successfully priced itself out of markets to which Hawaii and Guam have done the exact opposite. Hello, anybody home?

• • • •

Hospitality: If you’ve ever visited Tahiti (French Polynesia), you’d be surprised at the great scent of tropical flowers that hits your nose when the entrance door opens. There’s an instant air of courtesy, friendliness and an overflow of warm welcome.

Then there’s a group that serenades and welcomes you into their tropical paradise. Immigration and customs officials are very courteous. Tour guides go out of their way to ensure that you leave Tahiti with font memories of the South Pacific’s most romantic island.

I’m not sure that the same can be said of other destinations in the Pacific, north and south of the equator. I would think Hawaii and Guam come in a close second. The NMI has a lot of learning and growing up to do before we reach the level of real warm hospitality here.

Noumea, New Caledonia, isn’t a place I’d like to visit despite the beautiful country of the Kanaks. French immigration officers are the most arrogant of them all anywhere in the entire planet earth! I’ve seen it all through actual experience. I wouldn’t encourage you to visit the place either. In fact, bypass it and go to Australia and New Zealand!

Strictly a personal view. John S. DelRosario Jr. is publisher of Saipan Tribune.