What else is new
THERE they go again. Introducing legislation to “solve” what they say is a “problem.” (Like littering. Or blighted properties. Or juvenile delinquency. Or illegal drugs.) The Marpi toll fee measure or House Bill 23-2 claims that “there is a pressing need for funds to provide for the construction and maintenance of the tourist sites within the Third Senatorial District.” Hence, the “imposition of a toll fee to be paid by nonresidents entering the Marpi area is a reasonable and worthwhile means to generate these funds.”
Ten years ago, lawmakers increased the hotel occupancy tax by 50% to, among other things, fund the construction, improvement and maintenance of tourist sites. Back then, the tourism industry was finally recovering after so many years of alarming decline. Today, based on MVA’s latest figures, visitor arrivals are “58% lower year-to-date compared to FY 2019 before the pandemic.”
So imposing a Marpi toll fee on the few tourists visiting the island is “reasonable and worthwhile”? How about the cost of implementing it? This should include the construction of toll booths or gates, the hiring (and training) of personnel, the annual cost of their employment, among other things that cost money, which the CNMI government, as usual, doesn’t have.
Marpi is also the site of World War II memorials. Do lawmakers think it is appropriate to charge tourists who wish to honor the war dead and pray for world peace?
If there is truly a “pressing need for funds” for the government’s “pressing needs,” how about reducing its “non-pressing” costs which include a long list of government departments, agencies, programs or services that are duplicative, redundant or are mere dumping grounds for political (“nonessential”) hires?
The Marpi toll fee measure is yet another ill-advised if not delusional bill. It could very well be law soon.
Has there ever been a time when it wasn’t being revitalized?
THE Garapan Revitalization Project has been in the news since the 1990s. In 2004, its supposed centerpiece, the Paseo De Marianas, was completed at the estimated cost of $3.1 million (worth over $5 million today). Its proponents said, in so many words, that “everybody’s going to love it.” The then-governor said the mall “tells visiting guests that the CNMI ‘is a first class destination. Our guests, in turn, will spread the word, which is probably the most effective way to spread a particular destination — through word of mouth — that the CNMI is the place to go. It will help bolster our tourism, which in turn will improve our economy.” Etc., etc.
Tourism arrivals, however, continued to decline. Several commercial establishments in the area complained of parking and traffic congestion — and business losses. Many had to eventually shut down or relocate.
Today, the revitalized area is undergoing another revitalization to start a “positive cycle” of “destination enhancement.” “Once we’re done,” an official said, “everyone’s going to love this project.”
Incidentally, the Garapan project, as originally conceived, was supposed to “generate at least $200 million in revenue for the government within the four-year period of the revitalization.”
And this is why, today, lawmakers are again considering collecting fees from tourists who want to go to Marpi.
To paraphrase George Santayana: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to a life in politics.
