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SAIPAN, July 5, 2024 (Mariana Variety) – In a follow-up letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senate President Edith DeLeon Guerrero echoed the warnings of the local business community: “Without immediate action to increase visitor arrivals, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands economy faces total collapse.”
She was referring to a joint statement by Dennis Seo, acting president of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Hotel Association, and Joe C. Guerrero, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, at an economic forum during which they presented the “Operation $500,000” plan, which aims to attract at least 500,000 tourists to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands each year.
In 2023, the total number of inbound tourists was only 215,543.
DeLeon Guerrero told Buttigieg that although the U.S. Department of Transportation had increased the number of flights from China to the United States from 35 to 50 following her February 26, 2024 request to exempt the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands from the federal limit, the U.S. Department of Transportation has not yet acted on the federal Ports Authority’s August 2023 request to restore Annex VI to the U.S.-China bilateral agreement.
Annex VI exempts the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands from frequency restrictions on flights between the United States and China.
The Senate President said the U.S. Department of Transportation received the CPA’s letter nearly a year ago, which was supported by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Legislature, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, HANMI and U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan.
“Time is of the essence in this matter,” De Leon Guerrero told Buttigieg.
At the same time, she said the CNMI’s economy is “deteriorating and in crisis mode.” She said it is critical that the CNMI be allowed to bring in Chinese tourists to make up for revenue lost from low tourist arrivals since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also noted that the local offices of the Hyatt Regency Saipan and Asiana Airlines have closed since she sent her letter on February 24, 2024. She said some smaller businesses have also closed, and more are scheduled to close in the coming months if economic activity in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands does not improve.
DeLeon Guerrero said the U.S. Department of Transportation’s cap on the number of flights from China each week “is an impediment to the recovery of Chinese tourism in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
Before the pandemic, China was the second largest tourism market for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with 185,536 inbound tourists from China in 2019. In fiscal year 2023, the total number of inbound tourists from China reached 4,309. Direct flights from mainland China to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have not yet resumed.
DeLeon Guerrero said the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is requesting the reinstatement of waivers that were authorized and in existence before the pandemic, rather than requesting new waivers.
The Senate President reiterated her request for a positive response to the CPA letter…PACNEWS
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