Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan told Variety yesterday that Fitial arrived Monday night from Shanghai, China where the governor met with 100 travel agents.
The governor, Demapan said, was invited to the launching of two additional charter flights from Shanghai that will start in November. This means there will be more visitors from China, he added.
Century Tours and Dynasty Holiday organized the launching party shortly after the two companies got the approval to charter the two additional flights.
An Airbus 330 of Sichuan Airlines is expected to bring four flights a week from Shanghai to Saipan.
Last year, there were 42,873 arrivals from China.
The new flights, Demapan said, should increase Chinese arrivals by 10 percent.
Since there will be four flights a week in 2012, there will be a 40 percent increase, he added.
Demapan quoted the governor as saying, “I certainly look forward to the beginning of these additional flights. The infusion of these added visitors to our beautiful islands will definitely give us the economic stimulus we greatly need during these challenging times.”
There will be flights every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Marianas Visitor Authority Chairwoman Marian Aldan-Pierce, who was with the governor in Shanghai, spoke about the sights and destinations in the CNMI.
Duty Free Shop global director for marketing Richard Zhou, for his part, discussed “the exciting shopping experience on Saipan.”
Demapan said Chamorro dancers gave the Chinese travel agents a glimpse of island culture.
He said the travel agents expressed “heightened” interest in the CNMI.
Shanghai’s leading lifestyle and travel media entities covered the “island-themed” event, he added.
Fitial in his last two trips brought home bad news. First was the looming federal budget cuts he discussed with U.S. Department of Justice officials in San Diego, California and the second was the CNMI losing bid to host the Pacific Mini Games in 2017 despite the governor’s presence in Noumea, New Caledonia where it was announced that Vanuatu was chosen.
