![\"Gov.](\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/DFS-pix-150x150.jpg\")
\u201cEach one is an individual rebranding, each one has an individual strategy,\u201d Schaus said.<\/p>\n
Along with their authentic, locally made \u201cdestination products\u201d at every one of their locations, Schaus said DFS makes sure to invest in every destination on a community level as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important for DFS that every destination we are present, we are part of that destination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He noted how DFS has been on island for 38 years, even before Saipan became developed as a tourist destination, adding that their founders helped develop the airport to make it accessible for larger airplanes.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019We are very much engrained on Saipan, it is part of our heritage and culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Schaus added that on top of their unique destination products they are also promoting Saipan abroad in their travel offices like in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring[ing] customers to Saipan has been a very important initiative for DFS over the last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Schaus said over the last five or six years there has been an evolution in the customer base as their predominantly Japanese customer base progressively moved into a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Russian customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn parallel to that, we have made our concept evolve to be more attractive to these new groups,\u201d he said, as the \u201cT\u201d in T Galleria stands for \u201ctraveler\u201d and is meant to evoke modern travel and simplicity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that our customers our predominantly Asian. We felt that having a very simple name would be a big advantage. And what is simpler than having a one-letter name? Everybody can remember one letter,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
Tipiyeew Village<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Marian Aldan-Pierce, president of DFS Saipan, the Tipiyeew Village project is collaboration between DFS and the Office of Carolinian Affairs.<\/p>\n She said DFS sponsored the building of the life-size ancient Chamorro latte stone house and Carolinian canoe house as their aim is to have a place where tourists and visitors can go for arts and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want it to have a life on its own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Part of the event last Saturday involved various booths showcasing salt-making, mwarmwar- weaving, and bead-making, which are activities she hopes the village will offer regularly.<\/p>\n She said a regular two-hour event on Fridays could become a \u201chome\u201d for cultural activities and traditional dancing and competitions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe location is perfect. It\u2019s right in the heart of Garapan\u2026 You can have over a 1,000 people within 10 minutes of walking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n One of the showcases at Saturday\u2019s event was the \u201cT in Art\u201d exhibition showcasing talents like Phillip Canuto, Ernie David, Gregg Elliot, Mike Finey, and Tim Deleon Guerrero.<\/p>\n The artists transformed a standing \u201cT\u201d-structure into works of their own design.<\/p>\n Finey, a wood carver, for example, carved flowers, dolphins, and turtles as well as a canoe-paddle, gluing them to his structure as part of a message of travel and good fortune.<\/p>\n On permanent display at a latte stone in the village is Robert Hunter\u2019s painting of a beaming young girl holding a seashell to her ear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The worldwide rebranding of DFS Galleria into T Galleria by DFS Group officially hit the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":178568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[300,338,186,122],"class_list":["post-178566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-dfs","tag-hong-kong","tag-initiative","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}