One of the development planners organizing the upcoming Northern Islands Development Summit, Torres said the islands up north have potentials for high-end tourism.
The presence of a smoking volcano, black sand, hot springs, pristine water are among the attractions of the Northern Islands, he said.
Like Musha Cay, he added, the Northern Islands can attract affluent individuals who want privacy while on vacation.
“We like to make the islands an exclusive area but we also have to promote them carefully and that involves a lot of planning and design,” he said.
The islands up north, he added, are very ideal also for stargazing and leisure fishing.
Geo-tourism
While resettlement in the Northern Islands is being worked out, he said development should also look into the preservation of the area’s ecology.
Torres said he agrees with the recommendations of Jonathan B. Tourtellot of the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations who gave a series of public presentations in March about geo-tourism. While here, he also met with hospitality management students of Northern Marianas College and with tourism stakeholders on Saipan and Tinian.
Tourtellot noted the need for visitors to experience the elements of natural, cultural and historic heritage that are unique to the CNMI, Torres said.
Tourtellot observed that the geo-tourists tend to spend more compared to typical high volume “recreational” travelers, Torres added.
Resettlement program
The Northern Islands include Pagan, Maug, Alamagan, Agrihan, Asuncion, Guguan, Sarigan, Anatahan, Farallon de Medinilla and Farallon de Pajaros.
Development planners are pushing for the resettlement and development of the Northern Islands, Torres said.
While still a House member, Torres said he advocated for tapping the economic potentials of the CNMI’s northern frontier.
“There was a yearning by former residents to return there,” he said, adding that he introduced a bill for a Northern Islands homestead program and economic development.
His proposal, however, didn’t reach the executive branch because “we have this attitude: ‘why go up there when it’s risky because of the active volcano.’ ”
Former Northern Islands residents don’t want to be exiled on Saipan, he added.
The Northern Islands, he added, was once a thriving and prosperous place with a copra industry.
There are 17 residents now on Pagan and 7 on Alamagan.
The Northern Islands has 116 registered voters, almost all of whom reside on Saipan.
Jerome Aldan, the son of the Northern Islands mayor, said in the past, there were more people in the Northern Islands than on Rota and Tinian.
Aldan believes there’s “a good chance the resettlement program will happen.”
Neither he nor Torres mentioned the funding source for the Northern Islands resettlement and development plans.
