{"id":244688,"date":"2017-01-19T06:06:28","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T20:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=244688"},"modified":"2017-01-19T06:06:28","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T20:06:28","slug":"mva-excited-launch-duck-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/mva-excited-launch-duck-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"MVA excited with launch of Duck Tours"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Saipan<\/a>
Saipan Duck Tours uses a 27,000-lb amphibious vehicle based on World War II-era DUKW. (JON PEREZ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Marianas Visitors Authority welcomed the entry of Saipan Duck Tours into the CNMI\u2019s tourism scene, saying it will be an added attraction for tourists and residents alike.<\/p>\n

MVA managing director Christopher Concepcion congratulated AquaDuck LLC during the company\u2019s formal launch of its Saipan Duck Tours operations during a ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday at the Garapan Fishing Base.<\/p>\n

The land and sea tour uses a 27,000-lb amphibious vehicle based on World War II-era DUKW.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited about it. It\u2019s an added attraction for visitors here in the CNMI and Saipan in particular. Everybody asks for these types of new and fresh activities to do on Saipan and in the Marianas. This is one new attraction that will definitely be a big hit with our sources markets of Japan, China, and Korea,\u201d Concepcion said.<\/p>\n

He also hopes AquaDuck LLC will join MVA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve encouraged them to become an MVA member, which will allow us to help them. As soon as they become an MVA member we will definitely partner with them to help promote their product,\u201d he said, adding that the company only needs to pay the $100 annual fee to become a member. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to be part of all of MVA\u2019s promotions. You also get first glance of the visitor arrival statistics and you get detailed membership reports every month that feature all new attractions like this. It\u2019s very reasonable at $100 a year and it gets you all these valuable information so you can plan and map out what direction your company is going,\u201d said Concepcion.<\/p>\n

AquaDuck LLC president Eddie Yokeno said if his venture works out he would purchase two more vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the operation is solid we will go on the second step by getting two more and expanding our operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Yokeno said the launch of the Duck Tours is a testament to the CNMI\u2019s growing economy and fast-rising reputation as a tourist destination.<\/p>\n

With Imperial Pacific Resort adding 2,000 rooms to hotel occupancy, Yokeno sees an additional 4,000 potential customers. <\/p>\n

He also welcomes the competition from Island Turtle Tours, which offers a similar service.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish them well also. Competition is always good. There are a lot of tourists to go around. They have one Duck and we have two Ducks and we cannot duck the issue that we need more!\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Marianas Visitors Authority welcomed the entry of Saipan Duck Tours into the CNMI\u2019s tourism…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":244689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,14923,212,15184],"class_list":["post-244688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-island-turtle-tours","tag-mva","tag-saipan-duck-tours"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244688","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}