By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE Guam Visitors Bureau is busy preparing for the 40th anniversary of the island’s tourism industry, which GVB plans to celebrate in May which will be proclaimed as Tourism Month.
May was chosen as the month to celebrate tourism because it was on May 1, 1967 that a Pan Am World Airways jet landed at the Guam International Airport with the first tourist passengers direct from Tokyo, Japan.
When the aircraft opened its doors, it also opened up a new economic opportunity for Guam in the tourism industry. Today, tourism has matured to become Guam’s leading economic activity.
To mark this milestone, Gov. Felix P. Camacho will be proclaiming May 2007 as “Celebrating 40 Years of Tourism Month.”
The proclamation signing will take place at 11 a.m. on April 27, 2007 in the main conference room of the Guam Visitors Bureau in Tumon.
GVB plans to celebrate Guam tourism anniversary not just locally but overseas as well, especially in Japan, Guam’s number one tourism market.
In fact, GVB already launched its anniversary promo as early as January this year at a special press conference in Tokyo attended by the bureau’s travel agent representatives.
As part of the promotion, GVB and its office in Japan are searching for the original 109 passengers of the first Pan Am flight that flew into Guam on May 1, 1967.
Couples who spent their honeymoon on Guam 40 years ago are also being tracked down and invited to visit the island again.
The bureau likewise launched its Hafa Ada Card campaign in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo, which are all primary tourism markets for Guam.
On May 1 itself, GVB, in coordination with the Guam International Airport Authority, will be holding an “Airport Greeting Service” during which decorative cookies prepared by Guam culinary students will be distributed to tourists.
The greeting service and musical entertainment by GIAA will also be presented during the peak airport arrival times of 1-3 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. The Tourism Education Council will also hold a presentation on the importance of “A Sense of Place.”