VISITORS who arrived on the first travel bubble flight from South Korea last Saturday will receive their fifth-day Covid-19 testing today, Thursday, July 29.
CNMI Covid-19 Task Force Chairman Warren Villagomez said the Commonwealth continues to implement its response protocols while working closely with the Marianas Visitors Authority and other partners to ensure that the familiarization tour and the first travel bubble flight go smoothly and safely for the community.
“We feel that we are prepared and ready to receive the first [travel] bubble [visitors] and [from here on out] to better our economy and move forward for a successful future,” he said.
“At any given time, we are aware [that] utmost safety is our priority, so no process has changed in regard to safeguarding our entry and border protection.”
According to the chairman, Pacific Islands Club Saipan is acting as a hybrid hotel site for unvaccinated inbound travelers, until they are retested and released.
“We’re encouraging our travel agencies in both the CNMI and Korea to encourage travelers who are vaccinated to come here. We’re doing our promotions,” he said, noting that the governor has created a travel resumption working group to take on these tasks.
Villagomez said the CNMI did not want to delay the date of the first travel bubble flight another week from last Saturday’s target date “because the interest is there in Korea.”
He said while the CNMI delegation was in South Korea for the signing of the travel bubble agreement, the delegation saw that the South Korean government was assuring its people that the Commonwealth has a system that is safe and well checked out.
“We want to proceed, and we don’t want to be changing dates hereon… The numbers are great, very good numbers. It’s amazing, this first flight out,” said Villagomez.
Those from South Korea who arrived on Saturday, July 17 for the familiarization tour were released from their five-day quarantine last Thursday.
Villagomez said the group — which consists of YouTubers, media, chief executive officers of travel agencies or airlines — visiting cultural, historical, and popular sites will provide a lot of media coverage to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
“Let’s greet them and welcome them,” he added.
He also encourages those who have not received the Covid-19 vaccine to register and get vaccinated.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna, for her part, noted that it is still a U.S. Customs and Border Protection requirement to have a PCR test prior to arrival.
She said this helps the CNMI community know that visitors will be tested prior to arrival and must test negative for the coronavirus disease prior to boarding their flight to the Commonwealth.
The health chief said CHCC is seeing more inbound passengers being fully vaccinated, or roughly 80-90% of inbound passengers.
At the CNMI borders, passengers are screened, their vaccination documents verified, and their households inspected if they opt to quarantine at home.
“We have everything in place. We are seeing more businesses get vaccinated, [having] 100% of their staff vaccinated, so there is that protection… We will continue to do what we have to do for those individuals that are not vaccinated,” she said.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, for his part, said just the fact that the familiarization tour group is here in the CNMI is a great success.
The critical part, however, is the travel bubble, he added.
He noted that the roughly 40 participants in the familiarization tour have been enjoying the CNMI thus far.
“They acknowledged how safe we are. That’s the reason why they’re here. They feel safe, they enjoy it, despite the weather and rainy past couple of days, they’re very grateful for the partnership and we look forward to a better relationship as well as our tourists coming here,” he said.
The governor also acknowledged the peak number of positive Covid-19 cases in South Korea, but added that the CNMI is still comparatively safe.
“The important part is that we have done very well here, that South Korea acknowledged our protocols… When [visitors] come here, not only is our community safe, but our tourists are safe, and we want them to enjoy the CNMI and return safe. That’s the biggest thing that we’re pushing, of course, other than our beauty here,” he said.
On Thursday evening, the governor sat down with representatives of the three airlines involved in the travel bubble, as well as other tour agencies.
“For me, it’s really promising… They’re excited to be a part of this travel bubble. We acknowledged that it’s not going to be as smooth as we all wanted [it to be], but we’re all working. We all have the same goal: we want them to make money, we want our tourists to come here and enjoy our community. Any additional assistance that we give stays here in the CNMI to help small businesses. I know that for sure that when our tourists come in, we’re going to get more employment throughout the industry,” the governor said.
