Reyes, R-Saipan, said the mascot is rarely being used.
He wants to see the records of compensation and royalty that MVA receives for the copyright and marketing rights it provided to businesses.
Reyes also wants to know if the marketing of Saipanda is only within the CNMI or includes MVA’s off-island offices.
Reyes earlier requested copies of travel and expenditure documents from the agency.
In his letter to MVA Managing Director Perry Tenorio, Reyes said island artists and musicians should also be marketed by the agency.
“I am trying to boost our economy by promoting local musicians and dancers to our tourists. They always seem to be popular with our off-island guests,” Reyes said.
He said MVA should meet with officials of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands to discuss the promotion of local cultural programs and musicians at the hotels.
“I think this would be a good program to start, not only for our tourists’ enjoyment but also for helping to improve our economy,” Reyes said.
Some members of the community have asked MVA to “re-evaluate” its Saipanda mascot which they said “does not truly reflect the Marianas people and nature.”
According to a survey conducted by a Tokyo marketing firm in Dec. 2000, Japanese travelers knew little about Saipanda.
Only 32.2 percent of the 1,000 Japanese surveyed were aware of the existence of the Saipanda campaign promoting the CNMI in Japan — 65.8 percent through television commercials; 34.2 percent through newspapers and magazines; and 16.1 percent through travel pamphlets.
It was Tokyo advertising company Dentsu 10 that created the Saipanda mascot, a character resembling a panda bear with a rhinoceros horn nose. It supposedly symbolizes the Japanese traveler who is a repeat visitor and is “crazy about Saipan.”
