A ranking official of the Pacific Asia Travel Association urged the local tourism industry yesterday to take caution in approaching the huge China market to ensure that the islands attract only high quality travelers.<\/p>\n
PATA vice president Peter Semone, the keynote speaker at yesterday\u2019s general membership meeting of the Marianas Visitors Authority, also advised the Northern Marianas to carefully study how it plans to suit the destination to the needs of Chinese travelers, saying it might turn away other tourism markets in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina is a very unique country and it poses a very unique challenge for the travel and tourism industry. China has 1.2 billion people and you\u2019ll be amazed at how many people in China are quite wealthy, quite sophisticated and have traveled around the world. So when you approach the Chinese market, you want to make sure you\u2019re getting quality visitors,\u201d Semone said in an interview.<\/p>\n
MVA chair David Sablan said MVA, along with the two companies currently providing charter service between China and the CNMI, aims to bring in a maximum of 50,000 Chinese visitors to the islands in 2005.<\/p>\n
He said this is a manageable number, considering the hotels and facilities available in CNMI, as well as the passenger screening capacity of the currently understaffed Transportation Security Administration.<\/p>\n
Semone agreed with Sablan\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of the Chinese market as a water faucet. If you open the faucet too much too quickly, you\u2019re going to be overwhelmed by Chinese visitors. You have to proceed in a very logical, procedural way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Semone also warned the local travel industry of the possible impact of the Chinese market on other tourism markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t go too quickly because you\u2019re going to flood the other markets. Unfortunately, you\u2019re going to lose the very viable Japanese and Korean markets. So slowly but surely and methodically approach and develop the Chinese market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Further, he noted that the Northern Marianas will have to duplicate what it did in the past for the Japanese market if it wants to develop the Chinese market, especially in terms of language and dietary requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cMixing and matching markets is the road to disaster. Consult with experts for each market and analyze carefully how you plan to approach each market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CNMI is expected to receive an increased number of Chinese tourists after it formally receives the Approved Destination Status from the Chinese government this month.<\/p>\n
With the Commonwealth having the ADS, the Marianas Visitors Authority will be able to freely conduct promotional and marketing campaigns in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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