The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, or Hanmi, said very few Chinese and Russian tourists informally surveyed are still willing to come back if they will be required to get a U.S. visa and if they successfully get it, they prefer to travel to the states.
“We feel that these markets will be an almost total loss,” said Hanmi.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s interim final regulations published in January excluded China and Russia from the list of countries whose citizens are free to enter the CNMI and Guam once the Consolidated and Natural Resources Act of 2008, or the federalization law, is implemented in November.
Hanmi said Russian and Chinese tourists are a major source of business for many tourism-related establishments in the CNMI and Guam and their governments as well.
“According to our latest statistics, the China and Russian markets provide 10.8 percent of our total tourists and nearly 20 percent of tourist spending in our islands,” said Hanmi.
The group asked the U.S. Congress to delay the implementation of the federalization law until such time that “Homeland Security is equipped to administer the visa waiver for China and Russia.”
“Even if there is only a short delay in letting us continue to welcome these tourists, millions in public and private marketing investments will be lost and numerous businesses will likely fail. We remain concerned about certain businesses — both large and small — that were built to serve these important markets and could not survive without them, given the current economic depression in the CNMI,” Hanmi said.
Hanmi is also asking the U.S. Congress to explain the procedure on how foreign workers with valid CNMI labor permits can exit and reenter the CNMI during the term of their employment.
Foreigners comprise the bulk of the workforce of CNMI hotels.
