Carl TC Gutierrez

Hafa adai. It’s been a full year since Governor Lou Leon Guerrero began quarantining flight arrivals. She did it for all of us. To protect our borders. Contain the spread of COVID-19 and improve the safety of human movements across the island.

Thanks to their wisdom, strength and unwavering determination, Guam’s visitor industry is rapidly making way for the safe arrival, viewing and departure of package tours this summer. The governor knows that our economy still depends on tourism to make ends meet.

And she is considering easing quarantine restrictions as early as May 1st, when half of Guam’s adult population will be vaccinated by then.

Many thanks also to the responsible financial management of Governor Leon Guerrero. She and Director of Revenue and Taxes Dafne Shimizu last year reconciled the pandemic-decimated revenue collection with much-needed federal programs. I also commend the creativity and skill of the Guam Economic Development Authority Administrator Melanie Mendiola and her skillful management of federal loans and grants that have kept companies alive during the pandemic.

Without Public Works Director Vince Arriola’s determination to clean up Tumon, the visitor industry would continue to be plagued by dilapidated structures and dangerous flooding.

On a larger scale, our public and private sectors have worked tirelessly together over the past 12 months to bring us to the cusp of reopening. And if the results are continued tirelessly, the results will be better than business as usual. Over the next few years, we will work to keep Guam cleaner, safer, healthier, and increasingly dedicated to an accurate and ubiquitous cultural representation.

Although Asian goods travelers will remain a critical market, the profile of visitors to Guam will gradually change towards more affluent Asian and American travelers. This is as Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese tour operators start packing outsiders with higher health and safety expectations, and more military families arrive on business trips expecting to stay in modern hotels while they finalize residency arrangements.

Digital systems

We must be very grateful. Governor Leon Guerrero’s policies have not only kept the island’s COVID Area Risk Score consistently below 1.0, but the governor’s government has kept promises to implement low-touch digital systems for the arrival of passengers and cargo.

Last Thursday, the Director of Tourism Research of Nico Fujikawa GVB Governor Leon Guerrero demonstrated a paperless customs clearance kiosk at baggage claim in the arrivals department of AB Won Pat Guam International Airport. The new system allows travelers to submit their forms up to three days before boarding and present scannable QR codes on their devices on arrival. Many thanks to Customs Director Ike Peredo for running this project.

These digital customs forms comply with the digital manifesto laws that the governor requested from lawmakers and which they signed last year. Airlines and shippers are required to send detailed lists of cargo and passengers prior to their arrival.

Another thanks goes to the Board of Directors of the Guam International Airport Authority for incentivizing the revitalization of the suspended routes of Asian airlines with significant discounts on passenger charges by the summer of this year to help those airlines bear the costs, when they resume service in and out of Guam.

In the meantime, construction continues on the airport’s brand new arrivals corridor, and the GIAA hopes to have it operational by the end of the year. John Quinata, Executive Director of GIAA, also assures us that work is underway to introduce COVID tests for departing passengers so that everyone can feel safer on outbound flights.

Former Governor Carl TC Gutierrez is President and CEO of the Guam Visitors Bureau, Czar of Approval, and Chairman of the Governor’s Economic Strategy Council. Send comments or questions to GVB at communityrelations@visitguam.org.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR