Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds gave some breaking news during the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Forum last March 11 at Kensington Hotel Saipan.
During the tourism portion of the forum, she said 36 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have issued a letter asking the Department of Homeland Security to review the Electronic Visa System for Travel Authorization Program, or EVS-TAP, a development she said reflects growing scrutiny of policies affecting tourism to the CNMI.
King-Hinds said the letter was released earlier in the day amid broader geopolitical concerns, including debate in Washington about birth tourism.
“You will soon hear in the news, this breaking news, that 36 House members this morning issued a letter to Homeland Security asking for a review of the EVS-TAP program,” she said. “There’s some concerns because of the geopolitics and the ongoing conversation with regards to birth tourism.”
King-Hinds said the scrutiny underscores the need for consistent messaging from the CNMI government and business community about the role tourism plays in the territory’s economic stability.
“What is clear to me…is that a lot of this conversation is not based on facts,” she said. “Whenever somebody says the word China market… I don’t care where the tourists come from. What I care about is customers. Because every business needs customers to survive.”
She added that CNMI officials have been framing tourism access issues in Washington, D.C., through the lens of national security, arguing that a stable local economy supports the U.S. military posture in the Indo-Pacific.
“You can’t have all these military activities without having a strong, sustainable local government that is supported by a robust private sector market,” King-Hinds said.
Her remarks came as CNMI leaders outlined multiple challenges facing the tourism industry—from federal policy barriers to rising operating costs and global economic pressures.
Gov. David M. Apatang, in his opening remarks, said he recently traveled to Washington, D.C., with business leaders to press federal officials to ease policies that hinder tourism recovery.
He said discussions with federal officials focused on reforms that could boost visitor arrivals, including changes to immigration policies, faster EVS-TAP processing, and expanding the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver program to include the Philippines.
“These could be easier fixes that lead to action in Congress,” he said. “It wouldn’t cost the federal government any money.”
Apatang said tourism must remain the centerpiece of the CNMI economy as officials work to attract new investment and development.
“Our collective effort should focus primarily on tourism, as this industry has sustained our island economy for many, many decades,” he said.
Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Jamika Taijeron said the tourism agency is aiming to reach 500,000 annual visitors within the next five years—a major rebound from current levels that remain far below the pre-pandemic peak of more than 727,000 visitors.
“Our goal is to reach 500,000 visitors within the next five years,” Taijeron said. “This may seem optimistic…but we have been there before and we can do it again.”
She said the recovery strategy focuses on stabilizing air service, increasing demand in niche markets such as sports tourism and diving, and improving visitor experiences.
Taijeron also highlighted a basic but often overlooked factor affecting visitor perceptions—the condition of public facilities.
“There’s a thing called bathroom tourism,” she said. “How we take care of our public facilities, such as restrooms, is an indicator of how we take care of our visitor industry.”
To address this, the Tourism Recovery Task Force is planning an island-wide cleanup and maintenance initiative involving government agencies, businesses, and community groups.
Commonwealth Ports Authority chair Bartley Jackson addressed concerns about Philippine Airlines’ Cebu-Guam flight experiment, which did not perform well.
Jackson said the development will not affect the airline’s new Manila-Saipan service scheduled to begin later this month.
“The Cebu-Guam flight was really an experiment by PAL between two tourist destinations that seemed somehow not ready to go,” he said.
“But as far as we’re concerned, PAL really approached the CNMI to begin flying between Manila and Saipan.”
The new service is expected to launch on March 29 with twice-weekly flights.
“There’s no lack of interest, there’s no question, there’s no nervousness on behalf of PAL about their flight to the CNMI,” Jackson said.
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