THE travel bubble agreement between South Korea and the CNMI will be signed today, June 30, Variety learned.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres led the CNMI delegation that flew to South Korea — the islands’ main tourism market — to sign the agreement with the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation.
Joining him are Marianas Visitors Authority board chair Viola Alepuyo, board member Ivan Quichocho, board member and CNMI Covid-19 Task Force Chair Warren Villagomez, Managing Director Priscilla Iakopo, marketing manager Tatiana Babauta, Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig, Tommy Kim of SAI Leisure Group Company Ltd., and Brian Shin of E-Land Group.
NMI Tourism Resumption Task Force chair and Commonwealth Ports Authority chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds was also initially part of the delegation, but she was unable to make the trip.
MVA is funding the cost of the trip for Torres, Alepuyo, Quichocho, Villagomez, Iakopo, Babauta and Atalig.
Hotel occupancy tax collections from tourists are MVA’s primary funding source.
Press Secretary Kevin Bautista on Tuesday said the CNMI delegation, which left Monday, is due to return from South Korea this Saturday, July 3.
While in South Korea, the CNMI delegation will also visit the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and meet with executives of airlines and top travel agencies.
“All of the work being done by our government, public health officials, tourism stakeholders, and community partners on policies, beautification initiatives, and enhancement projects are [intended] to jump-start our islands’ main industry and that is tourism,” Bautista reiterated.
Tourism, he added, provides local revenue for public services and businesses, creates jobs in both public and private sectors, and enhances the livelihood of everyone who calls the Marianas home.
On Monday, quoting Hong Nam-ki, South Korea’s deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, CNBC reported that the Asian country “is looking to open up its economy and work on travel bubble programs given its relative success in controlling the spread of Covid-19.”
Early this month, the Straits Times of Singapore reported that South Korea “is hoping to expedite travel bubble talks…to allow quarantine-free travel for fully vaccinated people from as early as July, as part of a national campaign to encourage mass vaccination.”
The Straits Times added that the “Transport Ministry said…it is pushing to allow people who have taken two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to go on group tours to countries that have strong virus control measures in place and have been relatively successful in containing the pandemic.”
A South Korean official told Straits Times that “the prospect of signing a travel bubble deal with Singapore, Guam or Saipan is higher as they have shown a lot of enthusiasm for such an agreement.”
