Business establishment owners told the Variety yesterday that the garbage bins had not been emptied for the past two weeks.
“This is very embarrassing. How can we attract tourists when the whole place is littered with garbage? This place, which is supposed to be the island’s main tourist district, is so dirty that even local residents wouldn’t want to step in there,” a business operator said.
The business owners said the Division of Parks and Recreation collects the garbage during the street market on Thursdays and the day after, but the garbage collection does not include the trash in the bins at the Paseo de Marianas and the main road.
Business owners at the Paseo de Marianas earlier complained about one overflowing trash bin in front of one of the stores which they said created a very unpleasant sight in the tourist district.
“We reacted to one unattended trash bin before, but now, all the trash bins are overflowing and the garbage are flying all over the area,” one of them said.
They said stray dogs and some individuals are compounding the problem by scattering the trash.
“We received reports that some people go through the trash in the early morning to look for something to eat. This is so sad,” a business owner said.
The business owners said with tourism as the CNMI’s only industry, a very dirty tourist district will not help the economy.
“Our tourists are all that we have. How can we invite them to come back and spend their money here when they would not even want to set foot in our tourist district?” a business owner asked.
