MVA Managing Director Perry Tenorio said his office applied for the grant.
“The CNMI was recently considered as qualified to receive the grant. We have applied for that. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be given this fiscal year but later on,” Tenorio told the Variety.
MVA is not qualified to benefit from any of the over $92 million grants available for the CNMI under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, funds.
“When ARRA first came out, we discussed the possibility of product development but we understand that it’s not possible,” said Tenorio.
The grant MVA applied for recognizes tourism as an export.
“This grant is to promote export. Since tourism is considered an export, we would like to use the money to promote trade, seminars and convention in Japan, Korea and China,” said Tenorio.
In 2009, MVA was budgeted over $6.6 million and over $5 million of which were spent on marketing and advertising the destination to its key markets of Japan and South Korea as well as its secondary markets of China and Russia.
This fiscal year 2011, MVA’s budget was cut to $4.96 million as the CNMI government slashed by 20 percent the spending levels of all agencies to cope with its cash crisis.
Tenorio said the grant will help the CNMI get more exposure and compete with other destinations in the Pacific Region selling the same vacation package — the sun, the beach and the sand.
Last year, Tenorio was appointed to the 29-member U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.
