KOREAN Tour Guide Association spokesperson Yongmook Choi on Wednesday thanked the collective efforts of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, the CNMI Covid-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and all front liners for the creation and launching of the South Korea Tourism Resumption Investment Plan, or TRIP, program.
“Admittedly, we did not expect to see the huge market demand that we are experiencing now and we are very happy to see these results of [a] strong tourist demand for the CNMI,” Choi said. “We understand that the initial program has had to be modified due to the Covid-19 delta variant and agree that the safety of our community is our first priority in the reopening of our tourism economy.”
Choi said they welcome the addition of more hybrid quarantine hotels in order to meet the “strong demand” of Korean tourists who wish to visit the Marianas.
“We stand behind these efforts as [these] will lead to potentially additional flights and increasing the number of tourists we can serve,” Choi added.
The association members are tour guides of Korean tour companies.
Choi said that through the TRIP program, their businesses have been allowed to reopen.
“As the saying goes, ‘tourism is everyone’s business,’ and we are grateful for the TRIP program and for the collective efforts of all individuals, parties, and agencies involved in making tourism in the CNMI happen again.”
Some tour guides interviewed by Variety commended the CNMI’s efforts to revive the local tourism industry, but they said there are a number of flaws with the system in place.
Tourism officials, for their part, said the program, so far, has been a success.
According to MVA, as of last week, over 7,000 tourists had been booked through the end of December.
