The Marianas Visitors Authority expects a massive cut of $1.4 million in its annual budget due to the drop in hotel occupancy as a result of Super Typhoon Yutu. <\/p>\n
According to Gloria Cavanagh, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands chairwoman and MVA board member, the collection of hotel occupancy tax is expected to drop greatly and is projected to put a huge dent in MVA\u2019s annual budget because of the number of hotels that remain closed and are still recovering from the destruction of Yutu. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no secret. MVA projected 1.4 million reductions in the collection of hotel occupancy tax. The Pacific Islands Club Saipan was closed and not receiving new reservations since Oct. 25, since the storm, and we opened on the 21st of December and we only opened with a little over 200 rooms; we are complete with 308 as of Feb. 1. You have World Resort that\u2019s still closed and you have Coral Ocean Point Golf Club that\u2019s still closed. \u2026We don\u2019t see [Coral Ocean Point] opening any time soon, maybe toward the end of the year,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMarch is very soft for the Korean market and so it\u2019s just lower, lower numbers than last year, so [HANMI] is anticipating a huge drop, as is everyone in the government,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Cavanagh said the drop in collection of hotel occupancy tax would result in fewer promotions to bring in tourists and this is something that MVA fears but HANMI and MVA plan to be more proactive. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt means less money that is put into promotions. It\u2019s a little scary\u2026 that\u2019s why the hotel association and MVA met and we\u2019re trying to be a little bit proactive in re-introducing the destination to our three markets which are Korea, China, and Japan and, with Japan coming back on board\u2026we need to show that our destination has recovered. We really need to be proactive in promoting our destination because, for a lot of people, the last thing they saw was the devastation from Yutu but we need to show them that our destination is stronger than ever,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Cavangh said MVA will be proactive through a concert that is geared toward CNMI promotion. <\/p>\n
\u201cMVA is planning a concert to join together with the Flame Tree Festival. \u2026Right now, with the concert that they\u2019re planning for April during the Flame Tree Festival, they\u2019re looking at the tourism partners actually helping as far as defraying some costs\u2026We know that we need to re-introduce Saipan and the CNMI as recovered and this is a big way of doing that. But because of budget restraints, we need to do our part as a tourism partner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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