The Marianas Visitors Authority board conducts a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.
THE Bird Island Lookout, one of Saipan’s popular tourist sites, will undergo renovation, according to Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Christopher Concepcion.
“We have a $1.4 million grant from the Economic Development Administration [that will] fund new railings, new steps, the lookout deck, and paved organized parking,” Concepcion said in an interview with reporters after an MVA board meeting.
“We’re [also] going to reorganize…, redesign, redevelop Suicide Cliff, and build a brand-new restroom at the Last Command Post,” he added.
“There is a restroom at the Last Command Post, which is not in service. It has been vandalized, destroyed. Someone broke into it and smashed the toilet bowl. Rather than spend more money to repair and maintain it, we’re going to use the money we got from the EDA to fund a full renovation and expand the restroom, so it’ll become the main restroom for Marpi. It’s very expensive and very challenging to maintain restrooms at every site,” Concepcion said.
“The Grotto site is also in Marpi, and there is a restroom being maintained by the Division of Parks and Recreation. There is also one at Banzai Cliff that was renovated by the Department of Corrections, [but] vandals got in and destroyed it. So I don’t know what’s the answer to that, other than beefing up enforcement and patrol of the area, to deter criminals from vandalizing these places…. For now, we are going to focus on building a bigger and larger…restroom at the Last Command Post because this is the first point of entry into Marpi,” Concepcion said.
He said the Office of Grants Management has also been awarded a grant to fund the renovation of Banzai Cliff.
“That is another separate funding that they received, but they have been consulting us about it, and we have been providing some design support. Because that is one of the key tourist sites here in the CNMI, we are working closely with them. It is their grant, they are the recipient, but MVA will be involved throughout the process to make sure that the tourism industry is represented,” Concepcion added.
FY 2024 budget
For fiscal year 2024, MVA’s budget amounts to $5.39 million.
“Initially, MVA requested roughly $12 million, so what we were allocated is significantly less,” Concepcion said.
“That [original] number…was based on pre-Covid-19 budget…. If we want to bring the tourism industry back to pre-Covid levels, we need pre-Covid budget. That’s why we submitted an initial request of $12 million. Ultimately, a little over $4 million was the safe projection from the Legislature and the Office of Management and Budget, and so we went with that plus some savings we had from the last fiscal year that we didn’t fully exhaust. So, we’re going to add that to our fiscal year 2024 budget which is how we came up with the $5.39 million figure,” he added.
It is significantly less compared to the last fiscal year’s budget, Concepcion said.
“Last year we did have ARPA funding that was used to supplement MVA’s expenditures because the Hotel Occupancy Tax law, which gives 80% of the revenue generated from that tax to MVA, was suspended for the last two fiscal years. We have been surviving off funds that were given to us from ARPA during Covid. All of that went to different TRIP programs and travel agency support programs that were going on during Covid. There was quite a lot that was spent during the last two years after the pandemic,” Concepcion said.
Concepcion said the MVA had to make the necessary cuts in order to stay afloat.
“We have to cut a lot of our spending in different areas,” he added. “We have implemented austerity; we are observing the 72-hour per pay period plan currently in place.”
He added, “We need to make sure that we’re open and that we have enough staff to run our operations here in the CNMI. That’s a big part of our expenses. We also have to maintain our presence in the markets so really our second top priority is our offices in Japan and Korea. We need to maintain a presence in those markets in order to survive and thrive. Our third priority is really the events held in the CNMI throughout the year. These are our signature events like the Taste of the Marianas, the Saipan Marathon, Hell in the Marianas, the new Rota Marathon this January, Pika Festival, and all the different smaller events held throughout the year that are not necessarily hosted by MVA but are supported by MVA like the Flame Tree Arts Festival, and other events held by other agencies and organizations.”
Present at the MVA board meeting on Thursday were acting Chair Gloria Cavanagh, Ivan Quichocho, Jamika Taijeron, Masaru Sunaga and, via Zoom, Agida Quitugua.
