DURING the monthly meeting of the Marianas Visitors Authority board on Friday, board member Ivan Quichocho reported that MVA anticipates over 600 South Korean tourists will visit the Commonwealth this month as part of the travel bubble program.
As of Friday, he said, confirmed bookings had already reached at least 650, all in a matter of just eight days.
“I do anticipate we will be well beyond that forecast within the week — the agents have been aggressively selling and pushing this travel bubble,” said Quichocho, who chairs the Tourism Resumption Investment Plan for South Korea.
He noted that the CNMI is the only destination with a travel bubble agreement with South Korea.
“Thanks to the administration, the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force, and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and all their wonderful work has helped establish the foundation for the travel bubble program,” Quichocho said.
He said for the month of October, 483 bookings have been confirmed.
“The projection is 853 or 850, so given that it’s only Sept. 8 and the daily bookings are at a pace of a minimum of 100 bookings per day, I anticipate that the October number that we projected will be achieved, if not exceeded,” he added.
Quichocho said on Sept. 1, the CNMI picked up 48 bookings; Sept. 2, 75; Sept. 3, 109; Sept. 6, 119; Sept. 7, 325; and Sept. 8, 107.
“The pace seems to be pretty consistent,” he said.
MVA is confident that the influx of tourists in the coming months will allow approximately 384 tourism industry employees to return to work just in time for the holiday season.
