HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Visitors Bureau board on Thursday voted to approve a $1 million budget to pay for the Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, testing of thousands of eligible tourists before they return to their home country.
It’s among incentives that GVB is rolling out to entice tourists to visit Guam once again.
PCR tests have become the industry standard regarding entry and re-entry into a destination or home country, and GVB wants to alleviate the cost of tourists’ exit PCR.
The hope is that these tourists could use the funds instead for optional tours, hotels and other spending on Guam.
The GVB plan is to start paying for tourists’ return PCR testing starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, which is from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
GVB board members also approved a $250,000 incentive program for Korea’s Meetings, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition, or MICE, market.
They likewise approved a motion to register GVB as a non-profit corporation in South Korea to avail itself of tax breaks.
After a lengthy discussion, GVB rejected a motion to allow two GVB employees to attend a U.S. Travel Association’s Sept. 17 to 23 trade show in Las Vegas.
The discussion centered on whether or not it would be valuable or sound for GVB to spend more than $16,000 for a trade show at this time.
Half of that amount is for registration, which GVB already made prior to seeking the board’s approval for the travel.
Pleasure Island in the tourist district of Tumon on Sept. 6, 2021 remains mostly empty.