Acting Governor Arnold I. Palacios said that under the travel bubble agreement between the CNMI and South Korea, only vaccinated tourists from the Asian country can visit the islands.
“We want to make sure our community is safe, so our protocol calls for only vaccinated people to come to Saipan and we also keep our quarantine protocol – we will test them twice,” added Palacios.
“Before we resumed tourism, we worked with the [Covid-19] Task Force [and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.], also looked at all of these different parameters, such as the cost of subsidization or the incentive for airlines to fly here and the opening of hotels, ”he said.
“We looked at all of this and developed appropriate protocols to begin resuming our tourism industry while working on the security protocols required to keep our islands safe.”
Last month, the Marianas Visitors Authority approved a tourism resumption proposal – the CNMI Tourism Resumption Investment Plan, or TRIP – funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, which aims to “create demand” and revitalize the CNMI tourism industry .
The plan includes an eight-week pilot program launched in partnership with South Korean airlines and includes subsidies and incentives for airlines, travel agents and tourists themselves.
South Korea is the CNMI’s main tourism market.
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