The Senate version of House Bill 17-179 changed to “customs and quarantine fee” what was originally named as a “travel fee,” saying the measure will recover costs incurred for the enforcement of customs and quarantine laws.
With Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, Ind.-Saipan, absent, all the eight other senators voted to pass H.B. 17-179 which is now headed back to the House of Representatives.
Introduced by House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, the bill will amend Public Law 17-29 or the Japan Air Service Stabilization Program which aims to boost visitor arrivals by providing a $100 incentive to a travel agent who brings a Japanese tourist to the commonwealth.
P.L. 17-29 allotted $6.3 million for the program.
But Camacho, who was also the author of the law, told Variety in an interview yesterday the tsunami and earthquake that hit Japan earlier this year seriously affected the incentive program.
So instead of targeting only the tourists from Japan as stated P.L. 17-29, Camacho said H.B. 17-179 also opens the incentive program to the other Asian markets.
The measure will also provide incentives to travel agents who will bring visitors from South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and Hong Kong or China.
Camacho noted that from over 700,000 a year during the peak years of tourism in the mid-1990s, the number of visitors is down to 350,000 a year.
He said the CNMI government will earn $5.2 million a year if the carriers will pay $15 for each of these tourists.
This money, Camacho added, will go to the general fund but will be allotted solely for the Marianas Visitor Authority.
Camacho said MVA is ready to promulgate the rules and the travel agents in Japan are already waiting for the implementation of the program.
