What should we do NOW to promote the NMI?

By KOKI NARITA
Special to the Saipan Tribune

First of a four-part series

FIRST OF A FOUR-PART SERIES

Editor’s Note: The following is a letter submitted by the author to the Office of the Governor, the Legislature and the Marianas Visitors Authority. The letter was made available to the media. Mr. Narita is a Japanese with extensive experience in the tourism business, beginning in Guam in the early ’70s and ending on Saipan in the early 2000. He was involved with the Japan Travel Bureau and its subsidiary companies for 41 years, six of these in Guam and 17 on Saipan, including three years as president of Kan Pacific Saipan Ltd., dba Mariana Resort & Spa. He was a board member of the Guam Visitors Bureau, the first president of Japan Guam Travel Association, Public Relations committee member of the Marianas Visitors Bureau, vice president of HANMI, and president of Saipan Association of Travel Agent.

In a letter accompanying his suggestions, Mr. Narita said: “Please understand that by submitting the enclosed observations and suggestions, I am merely trying to assist the administration to see things from the perspective of someone who has been involved in the tourism game for as long as I have and especially one who was involved from the very beginning, the infancy years of Japanese tourism in the Marianas. I am not trying to get a job with the administration. I, again, only wish to share based on my experience and knowledge of the Japanese tourism market in the Marianas. … I am now retired and in Japan but I left my heart in the Marianas.”

To become the first-class destination that we all want the CNMI to be, the most important things which the administration must look into immediately is to complete the infrastructure such as roads, sea and airports, sewage systems, communication, postal service, light house, high wave protection banks of sea, hospital, power plant, water supply and so forth. The new administration should maintain a deep focus on completing CNMI infrastructure first of all, while maintaining a view toward the challenges outlined below.

First and foremost, proper planning should be the forte of this administration as well as any other administration to follow. Good planning takes the challenges and demands of time into consideration. Good planning should also involve all sectors, both public and private, to become engaged and involved in submitting their ideas on how to revitalize the CNMI’s economy, conduct studies and then carry out such ideas one by one and in a systematic manner.

The other one is to raise the consciousness of every individual in every department of the government to instill in them a pro-business and professional attitude, a pro-business consciousness aimed at serving the public with the 3S’s campaign: Smile, Speed, and Sureness.

To promote the tourism industry, one of the most important factors to attract tourists’ attention is showing the distinctive tropical atmosphere and feel of the islands to tourists. To do this successfully, the following tactics are recommended to be incorporated into the long range plan of the CNMI government but must be initiated here and now by the current administration. For this to be a resounding success, both sectors of the CNMI economy must strive for an even closer cooperation between administration and the private sector. This is absolutely necessary.

The administration should decide on a basic color that all of us on the islands can use in our advertisement to create a more visible campaign for and regarding the Commonwealth. Rainbow colors are recommended. After all, Saipan is for many tourists the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The administration should ask the private sector to adopt the rainbow color on their advertisement also. This way, all of us in the tourism business can collectively create a lasting image of the CNMI to all visitors. This is similar to the golden arch of McDonald’s which is recognized everywhere in the world as belonging to McDonald’s. Just looking at the arch can make people hungry. That is how powerful such a tool can be. We should aim to create a campaign program similar to the golden arch of McDonald’s. It works.

The administration should then hire a most appropriate painter or painters to splash the agreed-upon colors all over the islands, from hotels to restaurants, from bus companies to airlines companies, from travel agents to boat operators and other related facilities.

When done often and used in conjunction with bus designs and employee uniforms, the tropical (rainbow) colors become part of the overall gimmick of the islands that visitors, no matter where they are from, are not likely to forget for a very long time. In Japan, not only sightseeing bus, but also regular city buses are decorated with showy designs at present. When done long enough, such colors will come to be the CNMI’s signature and part of our identity and image.

Again, if this is done often and frequently enough such as on buses, on taxicabs, on the airplanes, etc., the colors will soon become so recognizable so as to become easily identified with our area.

* * *

The administration should initiate a campaign to line the islands with tropical flowers, tropical fruit trees and other decorative tropical plants, the kinds and types that visitors from colder countries love to see when they go to tropical islands. Administration should create a special working team to study how to plant these trees and flowers at government and private sector facilities, such as hotels, restaurant and gardens of private house. If done properly, people will soon come to agree to this concept and will work cooperatively with government and private sector leaders in the overall effort to showcase the islands. After all, we live on a tropical island where tropical plants should thrive and grow and beautify the environment.

We only have to look to Okinawa, Japan to the north of us. In Okinawa, techniques for planting and growing many flowers and trees have been perfected and we can very easily and handily learn from them in order to replicate their effort here in the CNMI. Okinawa, because of its proximity to us, would be the most logical place where we can study and learn the art of planting, propagating, and nurturing of the following flowers and trees: Hibiscus, plumeria, bougainvillea (100 species), flame trees, mango, banana, papaya, breadfruit, soursap, orange, betel nuts, and other tropical trees.

Once we have done the above, we can then decorate the following sites: Memorial Park, Banzai Cliff, Airport area, all churches, schools, hotel gardens, restaurants, and golf courses. We could also line our streets with these beautiful tropical plants, from Marpi to San Antonio, from San Antonio to Lau Lau Bay to Talafofo Bay, from Talafofo Bay to Bird Island Lookout area along the new highway that is planned to be built there and thereby completing the circumferential island road.

* * *

Administration should initiate the farmers’ and fishermen’s market, which will be not only for the convenience of local residents but which will also be a place of interest for tourists. Such a facility is intended to showcase local produce, fish products and other locally grown edibles, flowers and other plants. The facilities have to be clean and well maintained by a private company contracted by administration, which will collect a user fee at the facility for their business in order to meet the expenses of running such a market. To maintain the fishermen’s mart, the administration should guide the local people on how to catch fish by giving them necessary information, such as kinds of fish, place for fishing, tools for fishing and so forth. Shellfish and eel farming techniques could be taught to local entrepreneurs as a way to teach self reliance and to provide these delicacies to restaurant and hotels for the enjoyment of locals and tourists alike.

To be continued on Monday, March 13.