He said the administration, the Covid-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, the Marianas Visitors Authority, and tourist partners are working together on a plan that will ensure the continued safety of the local community.
“[The vaccine will help] a lot,” the governor said, adding that ongoing discussions are centered on what should be the best approach to reopen the CNMI.
“The system that we have is working,” he noted. “So I hope we can all work together and bring in our tourists as soon as we can because we do need to stimulate our economy. Obviously, [tourism] is our only industry here.”
Focused
For its part, the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force is trying to determine if the current system can allow the CNMI to welcome tourists again.
“We are not putting our guards down as we continue our focus on border entry points,” task force chairman Warren Villagomez said during a press briefing on KKMP radio.
The CNMI Covid-19 dashboard indicates that 74 of the islands’ 100 cases since March were diagnosed through travel screening at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport, and only 26 were identified as community transmission, the last of which was recorded 85 days ago.
For her part, CHCC Chief Executive Officer Esther Muna said their primary task is to keep the community safe.
Some tourist industry stakeholders said there is a possibility of a CNMI air travel bubble with South Korea first and then Japan.
