A Guam-based travel agent says the CNMI government should “pay more attention” to Russian tourists.
Oleg V. Chentsov, manager of Pacific Destinations, said this year “is a good time for the CNMI to penetrate the Russian market because of the high prices of oil, the country’s leading export product.”
According to Chentsov, Russian tourists have been regularly visiting Saipan since 1998. They spend four times more than an average Japanese tourist, he said.
One of Saipan’s frequent Russian visitors include Sergei Darkin, the governor of the Primorsk Region of Far East Russia which has about 1.2 million people.
Darkin has visited the island four times and would love to endorse it if asked to do so, Chentsov said.
About 300 Russian tourists visit Saipan every year. They are mostly from Moscow and Vladivostok, the capital of Far East Russia.
Vladivostok is about six hours away from Saipan via Seoul, while Moscow is a 12-hour trip, Chentsov said.
It is easier to market Saipan than Guam because the CNMI has no visa restrictions, Chentsov said.
However, Russia and more than 60 other countries are included on the list of nations whose citizens are restricted to travel to the United States. The citizens of these countries have to comply with certain requirements before they could enter the U.S. and its territories.
But Chentsov said Russian tourists find it easier to comply with the CNMI’s authorization to board requirement than to get a U.S. visa.
Igor Belokonsky, a Russian tourist who recently visited the island along with his family, said they prefer Saipan over other destinations.
“Last summer, we spent our vacation in Spain. The long flight exhausted our kids. We had to spend eight hours on the plane just to reach Moscow and six more hours to Madrid,” Belokonsky said.
“Although we had a good time in Spain, Saipan is better,” he added.
Chentsov said this is the opinion of most Russian tourists.
“They like Saipan for geographic nearness, ecological purity and safety. In the newspapers and on TV, Saipan is advertised as the ideal destination for family vacations,” he said.
