The House passed a bill that aims to increase Rota and Tinian\u2019s share in the Marianas Visitors Authority\u2019s trust fund. Rep. Glenn L. Maratita (R-Rota)\u2019s House Bill 20-4 would remove the limits on the amount given to Rota and Tinian from the MVA trust fund.
\nRota and Tinian receive no more than 2 percent or $400,000 per fiscal year from the MVA trust fund. The amount is equally divided between each municipality. The money must be used to implement charter flight tourist incentives and other promotional tourism programs.<\/p>\n
HB 20-4 has determined that a cap has been placed on the money from the MVA trust fund that\u2019s used for tourism promotion on Rota and Tinian. Maratita\u2019s bill would remove that cap and increase both municipalities\u2019 share of the MVA fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of the amendment is to eliminate the cap so that funds available for tourism promotion in the municipalities of Tinian and Rota can increase as the MVA trust fund grows as the result of expanded tourism activity,\u201d said Maratita, who is the 20th Legislature\u2019s House floor leader.<\/p>\n
Vice Speaker Janet U. Maratita (R-Saipan), however, believes that more funds should be given to Saipan since this is the point of entry of tourists before they go to other islands. <\/p>\n
She clarified that she\u2019s not against HB 20-4 but \u201cSaipan is the capital and this is where tourists arrive first. \u2026Why not look for other funding sources to help Tinian and Rota with their tourism programs?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
She added that funds should be allocated to help San Antonio in keeping the village clean while improvement and other repairs are also needed at Ladder and Obyan beaches, and Banzai and Suicide cliffs. \u201cThe bill would give Tinian and Rota the chance to address their issues with tourism enhancement. We\u2019re hoping that the mayors would use the money for the purpose of improving the sites in their respective municipalities,\u201d said Guerrero.<\/p>\n He believes the 2 percent share is not enough. \u201cThat\u2019s only shortchanging both senatorial districts when you talk about tourism enhancement. We should consider looking at it closely so we can really assist both districts when it comes to improving their tourist sites.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is time that we address their needs. I think the MVA is also responsible with this since they are the ones that market the CNMI. \u2026When you rebrand [the CNMI] as The Marianas, that includes Tinian and Rota. That\u2019s why we should provide funding for their tourism-related programs.\u201d<\/p>\n Guerrero said that Maratita\u2019s concerns in developing the southern part of Saipan have already been raised with former MVA managing director Perry Tenorio and his successor, Chris Concepcion.<\/p>\n \u201cThe [current] managing director said they are already studying how to improve the Ladder Beach area where they plan to put up a fence so no tourist could just fall off. It is also important to put security personnel there to keep the place safe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI hope they could also at least improve the roads there, even though they are not the agency responsible to fund them. We should all work together and meet halfway,\u201d added Guerrero.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The House passed a bill that aims to increase Rota and Tinian\u2019s share in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2714,1860,194,212],"class_list":["post-249780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-chris-concepcion","tag-hb","tag-house-bill","tag-mva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249780","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0
\nIssues cleared<\/strong>
\nHouse Commerce and Tourism committee chair Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero (R-Saipan), whose committee recommended the bill\u2019s passage, said that all issues and other concerns have already been addressed.<\/p>\n