Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is I’ve been saying for over a decade that “the CNMI needs to change its tourism model (Brand) from the outdated WWII to a more “Family Oriented Destination,” as Global Branding is just a fancy way of saying “our tourism model.” Global branding is “the process of creating and promoting a brand that transcends geographic and cultural boundaries. It involves designing a consistent brand identity, messaging, and experience that resonate with consumers worldwide, regardless of location. Global brands have the goal of creating and maintaining a consistent identity.” This new Branding Idea is something I’ve been yelling WE needed to do since the late 1990s when I warned about our Japanese tourists who related to WWII were starting to get old and die off, as great tourist destinations thrive on “repeat visitors” — MVA is running over 10 yrs. late with this idea but at least it finally happened, as we must change our WWII model (Brand) as even Hawaii has lost its WWII appeal and has blossomed through investments in their History, Cultural & Island Theme, something I don’t think WE can match in attracting tourists.
However, the million-dollar question is “what is the CNMI’s new BRAND or what Brand does MVA plan to create” given WE only have Japanese WWII tourist sites — see the challenge. What do we have or What can we create that the world will be interested in to visit the CNMI. I ask the hard questions because we can put up a simple Amelia Earhart Monument which would be FREELY paid for from donations and the Earhart Monument does have an appeal to the entire world — HELLER & Wake UP! It is great to see MVA putting together a “brain-trust” and I can only hope they come up with a plan that is capable of improving our tourist arrivals that can & will be executed and please include the Earhart Monument in our new Global Brand — it’s really a no-brainer.
Economists once believed heavily in Tourism dependency being upon a country with sound & healthy economies for tourists to travel to destinations. However, the world has gotten much smaller with modern air travel and tourists are now willing to and want to go where there is “the biggest swimming pool (the best attractions),” which is the challenge the CNMI faces in creating a new Global Brand. Talk is cheap about creating a Brand when it will take “real economic planning, work and even construction” which takes TIME to make something tangible & perpetual to happen. I don’t care what idea anyone comes up with to address our economy it is going to take a PLAN to be executed and the sooner our leaders realize this simple fact about fixing our economy and start work on a real plan the sooner WE can get out of this economic quagmire. Fixing our economy is not rocket science but it does take real economic expertise with the many economic variables and China is NOT the answer — just look at the new Trade War.
All I can say is Thank God there are U.S. investors taking an interest in “manufacturing in the CNMI,” as I have been trying to get several Governors to “exploit our valuable Made in USA labeling & seek-out investors for manufacturing to replace the Garment industry,” as only 51% of the value needs to be done in the CNMI to be a recognized Made in USA product. In fact, I explained to Arnold over a year ago that he needs to use our 902 Talks to get Diplomatic help with getting the Taiwan Chip Manufacture to establish a “fallback manufacturing hub in the CNMI.” Given China’s threat, if anything happens to Taiwan in a conflict, which produces over 90% of the world’s chips,” the Marianas is the closest and best U.S. protected soil, for fallback production & repositioning under the protection of America. But the CNMI will never be REFORMED until WE have leaders with a real plan & are doing the work.
But I know Arnold never pursued this idea for industry investors, as he claims to have contacted the auto industry maker, when he should have been contacting “every & all manufacturers on the mainland who outsource to China,” which is what I have been pleading for him & previous governors to do to replace the lost of the Garment industry. I’ve been promoting the exploitation of OUR Made in USA Commonwealth Labeling that has real value, but no Governor nor Legislature Member has done the work to make it happen. WE are just fortunate or even BLESSED that these investors took it upon themselves to seek out the CNMI, so don’t go giving Arnold a lot of credit that is NOT due! In fact, the real challenge for Arnold now is to “create our NEW Global Brand” that MVA has bestowed upon him & themselves to fulfill, as Arnold and MVA are finally accountable for something — OUR New Global Brand.” Our new Brand must be beyond promotions of history, culture & island scenery that will truly attract tourists in numbers. I’m sure many citizens can’t wait to see our new Global Brand! I do wish MVA & Arnold the BEST, for OUR sake, but the elephant million-dollar question for us regular folks is “where is the beef (the results of TALK)” or was it just Cheap Talk with nothing materializing.
One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & lifetime Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
