By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Felix P. Camacho is holding a proclamation signing at the Guam Visitors Bureau today to designate May as tourism month.
With the theme “Celebration of 40 Years of Tourism on Guam,” the proclamation signing will be held at 11 a.m. at the Guam Visitors Bureau office in Tumon.
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.
GVB plans to celebrate Guam tourism anniversary not just locally but overseas as well, especially in Japan, Guam’s number one tourism market.
By celebrating the anniversary of Guam’s tourism industry, GVB hopes to accomplish the following:
* To educate the community on the value and importance of tourism to the future of the children of Guam;
* To muster public support for GVB efforts to upgrade Guam’s tourism facilities and services, both public and private, by raising funds for increased village beautification;
* To find ways and means to encourage tourists to spend one more day on Guam, thus increasing Guam’s tourist dollars; and
* To attract the big spenders and the “silver market” through the development of more eco-tourism activities..