Making Tourism Our Business: Marianas Youth Welcome All Visitors Enthusiastically | Columnists

When I was a young student, tourism was the last thing on my mind.

Fortunately, young people today are much more in tune with and a part of our Marianas tourism economy, thanks to the work of Marianas Tourism Education Council and Marianas Youth Welcome All Visitors Enthusiastically–known to most of us as MYWAVE–school clubs. If I could, I’d like to address our students directly with this month’s column.

Earlier this month, MYWAVE club advisors met with MTEC and the Marianas Visitors Authority to discuss activities and opportunities for the school year ahead. It’s going to be an exciting year!

We heard from advisors that our MTEC Tourism Summit last school year in Marpi was the first time some of you have ever seen these incredible tourist sites. This surprised us, as Marpi is visited by almost every tourist. What a great opportunity to experience what our visitors do when they go to Banzai Cliff, Last Command Post, and Bird Island Lookout. With our theme “Green Space, Memorable Places,” we hope you were inspired to help keep our islands green and clean.

One of the most encouraging activities we see among our students are those aimed at protecting and promoting our indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian cultures. As you reinforce the traditional values and practices of these cultures, it creates the opportunity to also share these with our visitors and show them what makes the Marianas unique in the world. This year alone, the MVA has welcomed indigenous dance groups to join us at events like Taste of The Marianas International Food Festival, Saipan Marathon awards banquet, Tinian Hot Pepper Festival, Nippon Dommanaka dance festival in Nagoya, and—just a few days ago—Japan Tourism Expo 2024 in Tokyo. At trade shows like these, our festive dances are very popular and always draw a crowd!

And a warm “hafa adai” or “tirow” is a great way to share our culture and always make a visitor feel welcomed.

If there is one area where we would like to expand our partnership with you, it’s in keeping our islands clean. No one wants to live in a trashy house or play in a trashy yard, just like no one would want to visit a trashy island. The Marianas is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and we can all take pride in that. How can we improve? Remember to throw your trash away. Set an example and encourage your friends, parents, siblings, and cousins not to litter, either. Thank you to everyone who’s cleaned up litter, even if it’s not yours. Let’s keep plastics, aluminum, glass, and other waste from getting into our ocean. And definitely stay away from any form of vandalism, which hurts our community.

We want to give a big shoutout to all the MYWAVE Clubs and other student groups who have been investing their time and energy to help beautify our islands. During May Tourism Month a bunch of you helped clean and paint medians on our main tourist district of downtown Garapan. Others of you have helped with cleaning our historic memorials in Marpi, landscaping, and more. If your group would like to assist with future projects, you can contact manager Raquel Aguon of the MVA’s Product Development Division at [email protected], and we’ll put you on a list for any age-appropriate projects come up this school year.

The MVA sincerely thanks our young people for raising the bar on understanding how tourism works and for being an active and enthusiastic part of the industry with your many efforts. You are the future of our Commonwealth and the future of our tourism industry. Our MTEC/MVA team is already reaching out to your public schools as we aim to visit every fourth, seventh, and 10th grades again this year to teach about tourism and the MVA and to find out how much you already know. Over the last decade of these school visits, we’ve been amazed at how students are becoming more knowledgeable about the industry with each passing year.

Good job learning and making tourism your business!