Gloria Cavanagh, Marianas Visitors Authority board vice chair, speaks during the MVA general membership meeting on Dec. 7, 2022 at PIC.
Lawmakers and lawmakers-elect were among those who attended the Marianas Visitors Authority general membership meeting on Dec. 7, 2022 at PIC.
MARIANAS Visitors Authority board vice chair Gloria Cavanagh is requesting the incoming 23rd Legislature to pass a measure that would return authority over tourist sites to MVA.
“Previously, MVA had the authority to make repairs for destination enhancements at CNMI tourist sites, but this power was taken away from MVA and delegated to the Department of Lands and Natural Resources,” Cavanagh said during the MVA general membership meeting at the Pacific Islands Club on Dec. 7. 2022.
Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero, who was present at the meeting, said she wants to know how the Legislature can help MVA in “aggressively” marketing the CNMI as a destination.
“There is federal money…with respect to infrastructure. A lot of our tourist sites obviously need repair, and as a legislator I am most willing to listen to recommendations so we can assist MVA to make the CNMI more competitive and make our place a first-class destination,” Deleon Guerrero said.
Cavanagh said destination enhancement is important.
But “now we have ‘fights,’ basically, over ownership of those tourist sites — it’s either DLNR, the Department of Public Lands, the Department of Public Works, but it’s never MVA,” she added.
“That is what we are asking the incoming Legislature, for the House and the Senate to help us…become a world-class destination. We need statute change in order for that to happen. Right now, if we want to fix something in the Banzai Cliff area, we would need a memorandum of understanding, and our MVA legal counsel objects to that. We need your help to change [the law] so that we can bring our destination up to par again,” Cavanagh said.
Deleon Guerrero reiterated that federal funds are available to improve the CNMI as a destination.
“A lot of these infrastructure issues are from a long time ago. Today we are still having those major issues. I think…the Legislature must take ownership in having this high-level conversation at the table with all stakeholders involved so that we can move forward our destination, to become highly competitive. We need to work together. We need to get this project done. All of this money…we need to have [it] obligated, and I feel that MVA should also play a key role in this conversation,” the senator added.
