Name: Guam tourism 'gearing up' for early 2021 reopening
Brand: postguam.com
SKU: postguam-com-3
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Guam tourism 'gearing up' for early 2021 reopening

preview

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.Back to TopGuam's fiscal year 2020 visitor arrivals hit a 30-year low as a result of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, but Guam Visitors Bureau board Chairman Sonny Ada is hoping for a tourism reopening of January or February 2021.Fiscal 2019 set a record-breaking number of arrivals at 1,616,049.But fiscal 2020 brought in only a little over half of that – 756,385. That's a 53% drop. Fiscal 2019 is from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020."We were tracking to beat the fiscal 2019 arrivals up until February, then COVID hit," Ada told The Guam Daily Post on Monday.The last time Guam welcomed around 750,000 visitors in a fiscal year was in 1990, or 30 years ago.At the time, the island had 753,015 visitors, the bureau said.The new target reopening date of January or February 2021 for tourism is Ada's personal estimation, and is dependent on Guam's overall ability to drastically reduce the infection rate by November or December.Right now, according to the GVB board chairman, the main goal is to support government efforts to reduce the further spread of COVID-19.Guam's tourism remains at a standstill as most airlines have stopped flying. More than 30,000 Guam workers mostly from the tourism industry have been laid off, furloughed or got work hour cuts as a direct result of the pandemic.Guam initially planned for a July tourism reopening date after a lockdown that started on March 20, but the infection and death rates because of COVID have since gone up.&nbsp;"We made advances in terms of preparing tourism to reopen as early as July. But we cannot move unless the infection rates are down," Ada said. "If by the end of November the positivity rate is down, then we can start gearing up for tourist arrivals in January or February."From only five COVID-related deaths on Guam between March and early August, the number spiked to 66 as of Sunday.There are now more than 3,670 COVID-positive cases, and hospitalization has gone up.Guam's overall COVID-19 positivity rate was 20% as of Sunday's results, up from 14% last week.Hawaii tourism reopensHawaii, meanwhile, reopened its shores to tourists after nearly seven months.On the first day of reopening on Friday, about 8,000 people touched down in Hawaii."We cannot compare Guam and Hawaii's tourism situation, but with them starting now, we will have a lot to learn from their opening experience," Ada said.Hawaii lifted the mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors who produce a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of their flight.Another option is to forgo testing and quarantine for the full two weeks, as visitors to Hawaii have done since late March.As for Guam, reopening is a complex and evolving situation which includes many agencies and authorities, Ada said."Pre-arrival and even pre-departure testing for Japanese and Korean tourists options are definitely on the table and I believe we are very close to having an arrival protocol because the rapid testing technology is available," he said. "However, the focus at the moment is and has to be reducing the spread so we don’t have our hospitals and healthcare resources explode."Ada, president of Ada's Trust and Investment Inc., said Guam anticipated numerous reopening dates for its tourism but Guam was not able to contain the spread of the virus."And as a result, our industry partners have kept having to postpone the operation, promotion and selling Guam. The same for GVB, we cannot promote Guam as a generally COVID-safe destination just yet," he said.2021 could be worseGVB projects fiscal 2021 visitor arrivals to reach only about 400,000.That's much lower than the fiscal 2020 arrivals of 756,385 in the midst of the pandemic.Economics and finance experts have said Guam should brace for 2021, which could be worse than 2020 if there's no new round of massive pandemic relief package and if infection rates continue to be high and with still no effective widespread vaccine.Right now, significant efforts to enhance safety protocols, education and training in the hospitality sector are being worked on between the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association, the University of Guam, GVB, and other partners, Ada said."As well as beefing up contact tracing and even mass rapid testing for employees and tourists are being proffered. With that and if successful in getting our current high positivity rate down, we can gear up for tourist arrivals in January or early February," Ada said.In September alone, Guam arrivals were down nearly 98% or from 137,680 last year to only 2,912 this year.&nbsp;They were mostly from the U.S. mainland or Hawaii, at 2,431.&nbsp;Guam's main tourism markets of Korea and Japan brought in 61,412 and 59,758 visitors, respectively, in September 2019.Last month, there were 72 from these two Asian countries that arrived on island.In terms of calendar year, the January to September arrivals were a nearly 74% reduction from last year during the same months, or from 1.2 million-plus to only 321,160.Haidee Eugenio GilbertThe coronavirus pandemic has underscored the need for locally made products, according to Pepsi Guam Bottling General Manager Jon Denight.Atkins Kroll on Monday announced the temporary closure of its corporate office and parts department for deep cleaning.The District Court of Guam, alongside the District Court of the Northern Marianas Islands, Guam Bar Association, and the Northern Marianas Bar Association is hosting the second of its Bankruptcy Seminar Series.Poll results are published every Monday in The Guam Daily Post.You voted:BackThe final stretch to the election means voters can't waste their voice.Ginen I Hinasso Column (From A Thought)I have spent the entire summer sending off letters to people whom I’ve established through my professional dealings as a teacher and was fortu…We all agree the key preparation in the fight against COVID-19 is ensuring Guam’s hospitals are well stocked and staffed.

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.Back to TopGuam's fiscal year 2020 visitor arrivals hit a 30-year low as a result of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, but Guam Visitors Bureau board Chairman Sonny Ada is hoping for a tourism reopening of January or February 2021.Fiscal 2019 set a record-breaking number of arrivals at 1,616,049.But fiscal 2020 brought in only a little over half of that – 756,385. That's a 53% drop. Fiscal 2019 is from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020."We were tracking to beat the fiscal 2019 arrivals up until February, then...

Guam tourism 'gearing up' for early 2021 reopening

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS