THE tourism industry lost one of our true ambassadors last week. Mr. Ben Concepcion of BenKi Watersports passed away, I believe on Wednesday, rendering a void in our hospitality industry and leaving a lifetime of contribution, to which we owe a debt of gratitude. Fortunately, the closeness of his family and the admiration of his peers will inspire our duty to fill this void with the exemplary spirit that Ben showed our tourists every day.
I wish I had known Ben better (isn’t that what we all say when we lose a charismatic compatriot), but for the 15 years that I did work alongside him in our industry, my impression of him forged deep. Ben was boating tourists out to Managaha back in the 1970’s. He was taking our tourists diving and fishing long before we even “established” an industry. Ben was a hard worker. I know this sounds cliché, but in an industry that never sleeps where seven-day work-weeks are the norm, Ben, simply, had a job to do. He was a businessman of integrity, among other things, always employing only our local boat captains as is mandated by law. Most impressionable of Ben’s attributes was his smile and his bona fide island hospitality, as is evident by the many return guests his company enjoyed and the authentic friendships he had developed from past visitors from all over the world.
Ben was a patriarch as well as a pioneer of our industry. It is his role as an ambassador that he has left me with (as is the case with all of us in the hospitality industry, we all carry that role). One can only hope that the next generation took notice of Ben (or others of like quality) so that his legacy continues to perpetuate what is positive and needed in our industry.
I offer my condolences to Ben’s family and the staff at BenKi Watersports.

BILL OWENS
Garapan, Saipan