THE House of Representatives on Friday adopted House Resolution 23-19, expressing support for the implementation of the Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program or EVS-TAP, and encouraging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with the CNMI in the promotion of the Chinese tourist market.
Also on Friday, Marianas Visitors Authority Acting Chairwoman Gloria Cavanagh asked the House to likewise support the exemption of the CNMI from the flight frequency limitations between the U.S. and China.
The Commonwealth Ports Authority, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan and Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, for their part, have asked U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to exempt the CNMI from the USDOT order limiting the U.S.-China weekly round trip flights to 24.
National concerns
All the 19 House members present voted to adopt H.R. 23-19. Rep. Malcolm Omar was excused.
Authored by House Floor Leader Edwin Propst, H.B. 23-19 states that EVS-TAP, which is also supported by Kilili, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, MVA and the Hotel Association of the NMI, “addresses the national concerns raised by members of the U.S. Congress that called for the abolition of the discretionary parole program, while also providing a viable and reasonable way for properly vetted individuals from China to visit the Commonwealth where they provide a significant economic benefit to the economy.”
Annex VI
Cavanagh thanked the House for considering H.R. 23-19, but added that the CNMI should also be exempted from the 24-flight limitation on the China market that was imposed by the USDOT in October.
Cavanagh said there is a need to utilize Annex VI of the bilateral agreement between the U.S. and China that allows the Commonwealth to receive direct flights from China without quota limitations.
Cavanagh noted that the China market was the CNMI’s second largest prior to the pandemic.
She said 40% of Kensington Hotel occupancy consisted of Chinese guests. At Aqua Resort Club, 40% of the occupancy was Chinese, and the occupancy at Hyatt Regency Saipan, “at any given point,” was 70% Chinese, she added.
She said the local economy, the government and the entire CNMI benefit whenever the tourism industry is doing well.
HANMI Chairman Dennis Seo, in his remarks to the House members, said the lack of direct air service to the CNMI is a major barrier to economic recovery efforts.
The reinstatement of Annex VI will allow more Chinese to visit the CNMI, he added.
Chamber letter
In his letter to Buttigieg on Oct. 5, 2023, Saipan Chamber of Commerce President Joe C. Guerrero said in fiscal year 2019, “the CNMI’s tourism sector catered to 186,141 tourists from China, thanks in part to direct air service authorized under Annex VI.”
In FY 2023, according to MVA, there were only 4,309 visitors from China.
“In perspective, the pre-pandemic levels of arrivals from China were greater than the total number of arrivals in FY 2023,” Guerrero said. “If the CNMI were to recover the same proportion of arrivals from China as those witnessed in the South Korean market, total arrivals would have reached levels of arrivals signifying a recovery at 313,556, or only 26% below pre-pandemic arrivals. Recognizing the supreme role tourism arrivals have on the CNMI economy, along with the lack of alternatives to support wider business revenue and employment, the only avenue for economic recovery is increased effort to build back pre-pandemic tourism markets,” Guerrero added.
Big spenders
Cavanagh informed House members that Chinese tourists patronized restaurants and stores on island, and outspent Korean visitors “multiple times.”
She urged the lawmakers, to “please study the market, and ask the people who are actually in the market.”
“So thank you very much for … H.R. 23-19, but … this is only half of what is necessary in order for us to come back to a healthy economy, and I hope that you will listen, go out and research this, and that you will ask for these numbers. Because we, the chamber, HANMI, and MVA, we have all these numbers,” she added.
