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ADS agreement requires Chinese tour leaders, local guides
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Posted on Jan 04 2005
The newly signed Approved Destination Status agreement with China requires that travel agencies from both places are required to provide respective tour leaders for traveling Chinese tourists in the CNMI.
The agreement provides that the Chinese designated travel agents “must provide a tour leader to each [tourist] group” upon departure.
The CNMI-based travel agents, for their part, should assign a tour guide for each group “who will help, through mutual consultation with the Chinese tour leader, to solve any problem that would be encountered” by the tourists during their stay in the CNMI.
Right now, only two CNMI travel agents are allowed to bring in tourists from China: Century Travel and Saipan Travel. Under the agreement, these land operators are to service Chinese tourists visiting the NMI.
The CNMI, meantime, recommended two companies in China to assist in Visitor Entry Permit processing for the CNMI Immigration Division: Foshan Tinian Travel Agency, which is reportedly connected with Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, as well as Century Tours Shanghai.
Attorney general Pamela Brown said that the CNMI government has been using a special immigration system to bring in Chinese tourists since two years ago. She said EVPs are issued electronically.
“It pretty looks like regular visa,” she said.
EVP applications, she said are sent through electronic email system directly to the Labor and Immigration Identification System. “It’s reviewed by our Immigration people. If they meet the requirements, EVPs are issued,” she said. The AGO approves the EVP applications.
Brown said that under the ADS agreement, Chinese tourists can stay in the CNMI only up to seven days—possibly more if travel agents request for it.
The CNMI expects to receive some 50,000 Chinese tourists this year.
