SOME of the island’s local tour guides who wished to remain anonymous expressed several concerns about the existing travel bubble program between the CNMI and South Korea, claiming that the program is poorly executed.
Tourism officials, for their part, said the program, so far, has been a success.
The tour guides interviewed by Variety commended the efforts to revive the local tourism industry and are in agreement that tourism is truly everyone’s business, but they said there are a number of flaws in the system in place.
For example, they said, there is no contingency plan for the high volume of visitors quarantining at Kensington Hotel, the designated quarantine site for the program.
They also said that the minimum five-day mandatory quarantine and the “primitive” methods of filling out required documentation at the site have resulted in a logjam of visitors.
They said some South Koreans had booked trip packages to the CNMI through certain travel agencies only to later have their packages cancelled due to lack of accommodations.
“And they’re having to shoulder their cancellation fee. What kind of rep are we getting? It’s not a very good start. We’re not executing this correctly. If you’re going to do it, then fine, we’re all in support of this. But do it right,” a tourism industry source said.
“The customers are very upset…. Are we trying to bring in more customers or are we trying to scare these people away? I know that [Marianas Visitors Authority and the government] are painting a really nice picture, but that’s not the whole truth. Yes, they’re trying to negotiate with another quarantine hotel for tourists, but I mean, it’s a little bit late, right? We were expecting a huge influx of customers coming in this October, but that’s not going to happen at this rate.”
The source added, “Do you have any contingency plans? Have you thought this through? Did you think this program all the way through before executing it? Did you think there were not going to be as many customers? I mean, what is your plan in case there would be an influx of customers coming into this island? What were you going to do once all rooms had been filled at the [the quarantine site]? At this point in time, there does not seem to be any other plans because right now, customers are being turned away. How can you say that this program is being run correctly or is successful when, in fact, it is not?”
Moreover, sources said designating another quarantine hotel is only a temporary solution to the “bigger problem”: the length of mandatory quarantine.
The sources said the CNMI government ought to reconsider the minimum five-day quarantine mandate. It should be one to three days only, they said.
They added that the visitors who are already here do not have adequate time to visit other businesses that are approved through the Safe Travels Marianas Program.
They said only a few select hotels are benefiting from the program.
“The $500 [travel bucks] that [visitors] get if they come here — they’re not spreading the wealth. They’re eating at the hotels…. They don’t have much time to do anything else but quarantine…then go back home…. The important point is that tour companies are willing to support this program. In the long run, they will benefit, but at this point in time, we’re turning away customers and it’s going to hurt the potential sales in the future. That’s what we’re really upset about,” one of the sources said.
They said MVA and the government should resolve this and other related issues in order to truly implement a successful travel bubble program.
The opposite
Asked for comment, MVA Managing Director Priscilla M. Iakopo said, “As far as it’s not being well executed, it actually has not been brought to my attention or MVA’s attention. As a matter of fact, we’ve actually heard the opposite, that it is a huge success.”
She said over 7,000 tourists have been booked through the end of December.
“It truly tells you that [the program] is a success. As a matter of fact, we also have new airlines, such as Air Seoul and Air Busan, that are really interested [in participating in the program] and have never flown to the Marianas before. In addition to that, T’way Air is willing to also provide additional flights with no subsidies requested as well,” Iakopo added.
She attributed this increasing interest in the CNMI to the fact that the Commonwealth is one of the world’s safest travel destinations amid the still raging Covid-19 pandemic.
Ivan Quichocho, MVA board member and Tourism Resumption Investment Plan-South Korea committee chair, said as of last Tuesday, the CNMI had either served or had booked 7,899 passengers to participate in the program from its inception through the end of the year.
There were roughly 784 visitors in September, and the CNMI is looking at over 2,100 bookings in October; more than 2,500 reservations in November; and roughly 2,200 reservations in December, he added.
Quichocho said beginning Thursday, Sept. 30 through the end of the year, all flights have a load factor of over 40%.
