Fitial left Saipan on Friday for Park City, Utah where the Western Governors Association meeting will be held on June 14-16.
During his weekly press conference on Thursday, Fitial said he and Guam Gov. Felix Camacho, who is also attending the WGA meeting, plan to talk to Huntsman.
A hugely popular moderate Republican, Huntsman is a former Mormon missionary in Taiwan and speaks fluently in Chinese.
Fitial said China is the fastest growing tourism market in the world and losing it would have a dramatic impact on the tourism-based economies of Guam and the CNMI.
China and Russia are not included in the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program set to be implemented this Nov. 28.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said security and law enforcement concerns regarding China and Russia were the major considerations on its decision.
But Fitial and Camacho believe there are enough security measures in place to ensure that only legitimate Chinese and Russian tourists enter the territories.
The two have asked the U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife to sponsor legislation postponing for another year the U.S. law federalizing the immigration system of the CNMI.
The WGA is an annual event that brings together all the Western state governments, including California, Alaska, Idaho and Washington.
Fitial said California’ Arnold Schwarzenegger and Alaska’s Sarah Palin have confirmed their attendance.
