Palacios says investors interested in CNMI

With Hyatt Regency Saipan officially announcing its exodus from the CNMI come June, the administration of Gov. Arnold I. Palacios is now working on bracing for the impact which includes plans for the future of the Hyatt property itself. Fortunately, Palacios remains optimistic saying there are investors interested in the CNMI.

In a previous interview with Palacios, despite the impending loss of the Hyatt Regency Saipan, he remains optimistic that the Hyatt property will not become another abandoned property in the CNMI.

“Let me make one thing very clear, after four decades of presence in the Commonwealth, Hyatt has become a very iconic brand. It’s unfortunate and very disappointing that they made this unilateral decision, but we’re going to have to pick up the pieces and move forward. What our options are, we are going to have to clearly and deliberatively identify them. If that means going out and looking for other opportunities and possibilities, then that’s what we have to do. It goes without saying, I don’t think we’re going to have much problems getting someone to take over the Hyatt property. However, we have to be very deliberative. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because we still need to deal with Hyatt. The unfortunate part of all this is there still is no communication,” Palacios said.

Palacios specifically notes that there have been investors interested in the CNMI and the loss of Hyatt may be an opportunity to welcome new investors.

“I don’t only have Japanese investors [reaching out], I have other nationalities. When one door closes, another one will open. Those properties like the Hyatt and the Mariana Resort [& Spa] are on public land so we do have possibilities. There are a lot of companies from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and even outside of the Indo-Pacific area capable of taking over these properties. The Hyatt Regency property [in particular] is very iconic and very important in the hotel industry of the Commonwealth. Its’ a challenge, believe me, I wake up in morning knowing the challenges, but you have to go out there and face it. I will continue to look into what will be sustainable for the Commonwealth in the long run,” he said.

Revenue

As far as revenue, Palacios noted that he is also working with the Division of Tax and Revenue to identify what the impact will be once Hyatt leaves the CNMI.

“There will obviously be an impact on our revenue, especially [the Marianas Visitors Authority] that depends on the Hotel Occupancy Tax. As far as employees, maybe not so much, but of course the BGRT, in the short term there is going to be an impact. I have asked revenue and tax to determine what the impact is going to be,” he said.

Palacios also touched on rumors that more hotels may be shutting down soon.

“We cannot just leave the burden to MVA to promote the Marianas. Tourism is everyone’s business. The world is full of choices. Some of these folks have just recently invested in their properties and we will certainly do what we can to help them survive this, but I can’t chain people down. One of the things I want to say is that this administration has done, in the last 14 months, a lot of things to get us back [up] and recover our tourism. We are improving infrastructure, we are investing, we are looking for fundings, and we’re not going to stop,” he said.

Arnold I. Palacios