28 Dec 2011

CNMI and Guam could work together to attract Russian tourists

4:22 pm on 28 December 2011

The Northern Marianas is being encouraged to work alongside Guam to promote the territories to Russian tourists.

This comes after Guam was given a visa waiver for Russian tourists to start from the middle of next month.

The CNMI already has the waiver and its delegate to the US Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan says, rather than compete, the best move would be to promote both places as 'One Marianas'

He says Russian tourists could visit the CNMI and then head to Guam before returning to Russia.

Mr Sablan says the ultimate goal is to include Russia and China in the final list of countries whose citizens can travel to the CNMI visa-free.

Under the Department of Homeland Security programme, eligible Russian and Chinese tourists, on a case-by-case basis, can visit for up to 45 days without needing a U.S. visa.