Top Development Inc. welcomes the new tour guide\/operator certification program that\u2019s now in the works by the Marianas Visitors Authority but would like policies and regulations that are fair to everyone, whether operators are \u201cbig or small,\u201d said executive vice president and chief operating officer Alfred Ho yesterday.<\/p>\n
Ho agrees with the need for regulations but stressed that they should not favor bigger companies who may \u201cmonopolize\u201d the industry. He said even smaller companies help the economy and don\u2019t take away from it as long as they are following the law and pay taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because you have a lot of money and monopolize the business does not mean you should have first priority,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In a meeting last month, MVA board members cited how smaller \u201cmom-and-pop\u201d tour operators were popping up all over the islands. Stressing \u201cquality over quantity,\u201d board member Jerry Tan said 10 companies with capital, insurance, and good hiring practices would be better than 50 \u201cmom-and-pop\u201d companies where 10 are good and 40 are bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should put a lot of teeth [in the regulations],\u201d Tan suggested then. \u201cIt may sound kind of tough but keep in mind we want quality people behind this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ho, for his part, believes that the nature of supply and demand is \u201ctricky.\u201d The islands should not limit the number of tour operators, guides, or agents, he said.<\/p>\n
For example, so far the island has 10 charter flights from China\u2014four from Shanghai, four from Beijing, and two from Guangzhou, he said. With hotels and a casino in development this number may have to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about multi-billion of dollars\u2026Later on there may be 20, 30, or 40 [companies],\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the market is open is not the time to invite somebody to do business. It would be too late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ho hopes that regulations would not limit operators based on their draw of tourists. He said tourists chartered to Saipan by bigger companies reserve the right to seek these \u201cmom-and-pop\u201d companies if they so choose, even if another more established company is promoted beforehand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a customer comes to Saipan, they have the right not to choose the service offered by the travel agent,\u201d he said. He believes smaller tour operators would keep prices fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re doing business, we involve a lot of overhead, but smaller business don\u2019t. Mom-and-pop stores save a lot of money. This causes prices to drop,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ho said MVA has yet to reach out to TDI to discuss these policies. <\/p>\n
Clarity<\/strong> \u201cWe must do this to ensure higher-quality service for our islands tourists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He confirmed that as president of the Japan Saipan Travel Association, he has met with MVA to discuss the tour guide manual that\u2019s now in the works.<\/p>\n He said one problem for tour guides is that there is \u201cno official information\u201d on, say, the height of Mt. Tapochao. Some tour guides have been providing varying heights to tourists, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery guide must guide with the same information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On TDI\u2019s part, Ho would like to know more about the certificate program\u2019s language requirements. Public Law 18-58 would ensure minimum proficiency in the English language and successful training on the CNMI\u2019s history, culture, and scenic attractions under the certificate program.<\/p>\n Ho is concerned with how operators would be educated. For example, whether they would be educated in their \u201chometown Chinese\u201d or in English.<\/p>\n He believes it would be \u201cvery difficult to have Chinese tour guides\u201d become fluent in English. He suggests that tour guides be educated in Chinese, mainly because \u201cno matter how good his English is,\u201d he said, a tour guide for Chinese tourists would speak to these tourists in Chinese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top Development Inc. welcomes the new tour guide\/operator certification program that\u2019s now in the works…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[56,256,212,1275],"class_list":["post-185439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-business-3","tag-casino","tag-mva","tag-public-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185439","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=185439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMasaru Sunaga, Pacific Micronesia Tours assistant general manager, pointed out that the new tour operator\/guide program is now law and it \u201chas to be done\u201d to improve the industry.<\/p>\n