No, Chinese tourists and the PRC government are not the same
The ongoing tension between the United States and China has created a mistaken yet persistent belief that this is a zero-sum subject, that it is either one or the other, that one is either for the United States or for China. That, of course, is nonsense. The situation has more nuance to it than what is being made to appear.
Yes, I am no expert on geopolitics, nor am I privy to the military plans of either the Chinese or the U.S. governments and how the chess pieces of international politics are being played out, but I think we can all agree that politics at this rarefied level are not generally shared by the general population, who are more concerned with how to get food on the table. Once basic needs are being met, people usually want to travel for pleasure and the Chinese are no different.
It seems the problem is that many people conflate the Chinese government’s sometimes belligerent actions with that of the general Chinese population. This is stating the obvious, but they are rarely the same. The People’s Republic of China government and its military’s actions in the Indo-Pacific region have understandably put the U.S. military on the defensive—rightly so—and has prompted the U.S. government to position itself in a manner that will protect itself and its allies, but the perspective of the general population of China paints a far different picture.
As pointed out by Saipan Chamber of Commerce director Alex Sablan, the resumption of Hong Kong Airlines flights to Saipan is proof that there is a pent-up demand to travel in China, with the airline’s weekly flights bringing in more tourists than United Airlines’ thrice-weekly Japan flights. These tourists are even willing to transit through South Korea to get here!
This pent-up demand for travel is recognized by the U.S. government itself, with the U.S. Department of Commerce and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly hosting the 14th U.S.-China Tourism Leadership Summit in Xi’an, China, last May 21-23, 2024.
The U.S. delegation was led by Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis Grant T. Harris, and included representatives from Destination DC, Destination Niagara USA, Discover Puerto Rico, Guam Visitors Bureau, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hilton Worldwide, International Inbound Travel Association, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Marriott International, Mastercard, New York City Tourism + Conventions, San Francisco Travel Association, Travel Oregon, Travel South USA, U.S. Travel Association, Visa, Visit California, Visit San Diego, and Visit Seattle.
In his speech at the summit, Harris said that travel and tourism supports 9.5 million American jobs and that the summit is an important opportunity to further the Commerce Department’s mission to enhance the international competitiveness of the U.S. travel and tourism industry. He said the United States welcomed 66.5 million visitors in 2023, and these visitors spent $213 billion. Thanks to this influx of visitors, the United States’ tourism industry is now 84% recovered compared to 2019 numbers. Yes, not all of them were Chinese tourists, but this market segment is known as one of the key drivers of the industry’s recovery.
“This summit underscores the importance of strengthening travel and tourism and people-to-people exchanges between our two countries,” Harris said. “Through our participation, we hope to see more Chinese visitors experience the United States, which will support jobs and economic growth in communities across the country.:
Sounds quite promising for the travel industry. Unfortunately, as matters stand now, that anticipated growth in Chinese tourism may as well skip the CNMI. The fact that the Guam Visitors Bureau was at the May summit in China speaks loudly about our southern neighbor’s welcoming stance as opposed to the CNMI government’s pronounced “pivot” away from Chinese tourists. As if alternative source markets are ripe for the picking at any time.
According to figures cited by Statista.com, tourists from China are one of the main drivers of the outbound tourism industry worldwide and ignoring that fact will only be perilous to the CNMI’s diminutive tourism industry. In 2019 alone, the number of outbound tourists from China reached nearly 155 million. That number did go down during the coronavirus pandemic, but has since recovered to more than 87 million in 2023 and is expected to top out at 130 million in 2024. Imagine that. Even if the CNMI is only able to tap just 0.5% of that outbound market, that will still be 650,000 tourists coming to our shores—more than enough to revive the deathly ill tourism industry of the CNMI.
Yes, yes, the CNMI government wants to develop another source market, on top of South Korea and Japan. But that has been a CNMI mantra for many years now, yet nothing of significance has come out of that yet. It is easier said than done and, although I am no expert on the travel industry, I imagine creating a new source market takes years to develop. In the meantime, what will the businesses that rely on tourists do to remain afloat while waiting for a new source market to be developed? It’s not like the CNMI has a large on-island population that can tide over these businesses until that fevered dream of a new source market happens.
With an 80-90% occupancy rate as the point when hotels can operate at a profit, the biggest and most pressing question that confronts the hotel industry is: Where are they going to get those number of tourists right now? For good or ill, the CNMI is located in a part of the globe that is nearer to Asia than North America. Nobody wants to get on long-haul flights just to go to a beach when they can find the same within a distance of less than two hours. Tourists in North America are more likely to head to the Caribbean or at most Puerto Rico if all they want is sun, surf, and sand.
So your best bet for enough number of tourists to visit the CNMI is not the United States or countries in North America but countries in Asia. Right now, many Southeast Asian countries are drawing in visitors from South Korea and China. In fact, some countries have implemented 30-day visa-free travel for Chinese visitors, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. That is where the EVS-TAP program comes in, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will first screen all visitors from China before they could fly to the CNMI.
As former CNMI Chief Justice Jose S. Dela Cruz stated in a June 3, 2024, column in this newspaper, DHS itself will ensure that no “untoward” persons from China masquerading as good-faith visitors to the CNMI will be allowed entry into the CNMI. A word of caution, though: Doesn’t that just give it a slight whiff of McCarthyism and “yellow peril” fearmongering? With the Chinese government’s heavy-handed actions lately, I totally understand where this stricter process for Chinese visitors comes from but it will be up to DHS to find a balance that secures the CNMI while providing a lifeline to its sputtering economy.
Commerce’s Harris said it plainly: “More travel and tourism between the United States and China will create jobs and grow the economies of both our countries and foster mutual understanding of our people.”
Enough said.
See Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis Grant T. Harris’ complete speech at this link https://www.trade.gov/feature-article/remarks-assistant-secretary-grant-t-harris-14th-us-china-tourism-leadership-summit?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1jRQn3gDMcCqjkjLKFqzrHNJrrq1TG4VitPmNccwlIu0Ch4UymBbEQUKo_aem_AcZ1JrP12oEf92FuSwSl4FG09bzrWRR2P7XRaIBxo31pHkecskHxv1put00eDsYt_vt1JMd4AeWZAFDnN-M_JMnr.
Jayvee Vallejera is the former editor of the Saipan Tribune.
