In his letter to Cape Air Micronesia regional director Michael Walsh, the senate president said less flights and air seats to Rota “have impaired the island’s tourism economy.”
He said many tourists who want to visit Rota only in the middle of the week cannot afford to stay there longer than two or three days.
Right now, Cape Air’s flight schedules are limited to Mondays and Fridays. This, Manglona said “drastically” affects travelers who plan for a short trip because they would be forced to stay for a longer period of time.
Despite the ailing economy, Manglona said he hopes that the islands’ visitors will continue to visit Rota and the CNMI.
Manglona commends Cape Air for its continued business here and he looks forward for the use of a nine-seat aircraft to provide additional flights to Rota.
In an interview over the phone yesterday, Manglona said the CNMI is in a really tough situation now so losing the opportunity to accommodate tourists can hurt Rota’s economy tremendously “so we need some help.”
Variety learned that it has been more than a month now that many short-trip travelers were stranded on the island due to limited number of flights in a week.
