The holiday season is a happy one, with decorations, bright lights and an air of anticipation. Stores offer the latest and greatest offerings available, with enticing discounts.
But for people counting their pennies, and those with large families and children, the weeks from Thanksgiving to the New Year can be stressful.
Our cost of living continues to be high, including our utilities, and other essentials such as healthcare costs are equally challenging.
Among those counting the pennies are local businesses in the hospitality and retail industry.
For the hospitality industry, Thanksgiving and the Christmas and New Year periods are occasions for the booking of employee and client appreciation parties, special island style buffet spreads, and offerings of baked goods for the season, giving an air of busyness to venues.
The facts are that some hotel outlets and restaurants are not back to full hours, challenged by a lack of customers – particularly from our ailing tourism industries and a lack of staff.
For retail businesses – particularly those that are small businesses, it has been a tough year. We commend them for their resilience and ability to hang on and still maintain inventory in an uncertain environment.
But still, as the new year approaches it is hard to resist the hope that 2025 will be a better year than 2024.
The new year will bring new legislatures and new legislation, perhaps including a reduction in taxes, instead of new or old ideas to tax businesses, which inevitably involves costs being passed on to consumers.
Perhaps our tourism markets will see a “best case” scenario, and numbers will rise. We hope new flights to the islands will become permanent parts of our visitor landscape.
United Airlines did announce the extension of its flight between Japan and Saipan to July 2025, after an initial deadline of August 2024. United will also return to the Guam-Taipei route in April.
This year has had bright spots, with the saving of the Hyatt property in Saipan and its coming rebranding as a Sheraton.
In reality the islands have nowhere to go but up. We look forward to a coming year of more good news. mbj
But for people counting their pennies, and those with large families and children, the weeks from Thanksgiving to the New Year can be stressful.
Our cost of living continues to be high, including our utilities, and other essentials such as healthcare costs are equally challenging.
Among those counting the pennies are local businesses in the hospitality and retail industry.
For the hospitality industry, Thanksgiving and the Christmas and New Year periods are occasions for the booking of employee and client appreciation parties, special island style buffet spreads, and offerings of baked goods for the season, giving an air of busyness to venues.
The facts are that some hotel outlets and restaurants are not back to full hours, challenged by a lack of customers – particularly from our ailing tourism industries and a lack of staff.
For retail businesses – particularly those that are small businesses, it has been a tough year. We commend them for their resilience and ability to hang on and still maintain inventory in an uncertain environment.
But still, as the new year approaches it is hard to resist the hope that 2025 will be a better year than 2024.
The new year will bring new legislatures and new legislation, perhaps including a reduction in taxes, instead of new or old ideas to tax businesses, which inevitably involves costs being passed on to consumers.
Perhaps our tourism markets will see a “best case” scenario, and numbers will rise. We hope new flights to the islands will become permanent parts of our visitor landscape.
United Airlines did announce the extension of its flight between Japan and Saipan to July 2025, after an initial deadline of August 2024. United will also return to the Guam-Taipei route in April.
This year has had bright spots, with the saving of the Hyatt property in Saipan and its coming rebranding as a Sheraton.
In reality the islands have nowhere to go but up. We look forward to a coming year of more good news. mbj