THE Tourism Resumption Investment Plan or TRIP created local economics opportunities, said Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres, in response to the question why the government allocated $15 million for TRIP instead of spending the same amount on programs to help CNMI residents.
“Rest assured that the allocated $15 million created jobs here, opened up other hotels, restaurants, opened up opportunities for employers to bring back employees,” Torres said.
The governor, along with Marianas Visitors Authority Board Chair Viola Alepuyo, other MVA officials, Alex Sablan of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds, and United Airlines Managing Director of Airport Operations for Asia Pacific Sam Shinohara, conducted a press conference on United Airlines’ upcoming Japan-Saipan flight service on July 2 at Aqua Resort Club.
According to the governor, CNMI was the first jurisdiction that signed a travel bubble agreement with South Korea, when the rest of the world was still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That in itself is a success for the CNMI…and we continue to maintain that [travel] bubble agreement with them,” Torres added, referring to South Korea.
“Tourism is our own industry…if we cannot continue to bring tourists where are we going to be at? Give $15 million to everybody, then what? That $15 million [allocation] created not just jobs, but the incentives and the interest for tourists to continue to come to CNMI because we are safe. [TRIP] is what…jumpstarts and continues the success of us now venturing to the Japan [market]. If we did not open up the Korean market, we will be two years behind of what we are trying to do,” the governor said.
“And because now we have the experience from the Korean market, now is the opportunity to bring back our Japan market to the CNMI,” he added.
“Is it well spent? Absolutely! I will do it over again, because it’s the right thing to do, to continue to emphasize that tourism is the driving force of our economy.”
For her part, MVA Board Chair Viola Alepuyo said: “It’s not an unreasonable criticism, but we also heard the adage that ‘you either give somebody a fish, or teach them how to fish.’ What we are trying to do… is to jumpstart our economy. If we give that $15 million and divide it up among the community members, they get to spend it once. But if we help our economy come back on track, then we can see revenue, and we can see the government trying to provide services that it is supposed to, we can see businesses re-opening, we can have people start getting hired back. With the Korean market we see that happened,” Alepuyo added.
“So we’re hoping with the Japan and Korea markets, we will double what the CNMI government takes into its coffers as revenue,” she said.
“If all our people are going to expect is to stay home and get handouts, where are we going to be in a year…when the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA money runs out? Is that what we want to do with the ARPA money?” she added.
The $15 million allocation for Japan’s travel bubble program, which is scheduled to launch on Sept. 1, includes airline incentives, promotion and advertisement of the CNMI in Japan.
As for United Airlines, it will have three weekly flights departing Tokyo-Narita International Airport at 9:25 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday and arriving in Saipan one day later at 2 a.m. Flights from Saipan will depart on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 a.m. and arrive in Narita at 9:35 a.m.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres poses for a photo with Marianas Visitors Authority officials, Commonwealth Port’s Authority Chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds, Alex Sablan of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, and United Airlines Managing Director of Airport Operations for Asia Pacific Sam Shinohara, at the Aqua Resort Club during a press conference on United Airlines’ upcoming Japan-Saipan flight service on Saturday, July 2.