GVB board meets in closed door session again; promises focus on tourism recovery
The Guam Visitors Bureau’s board of directors continued its special board meeting on Feb. 19 which, like the last meeting on Feb. 6, immediately went into executive session.
Agenda items remained the same: discussions on potential litigation and the hiring of a new general manager.
The board met behind closed doors for nearly an hour and adjourned its special meeting at 2:20 p.m.
The Guam Visitors Bureau’s board of directors went into executive session shortly after resuming its special meeting on Feb. 19. Photo by Skyler Obispo.
Board chairman George Chiu could not discuss openly what took place during the executive session, but told media that the next meeting will have a focus on tourism recovery and that “[media] would not be disappointed.”
The board of directors will convene again on Feb. 27 as a continuation of its regular board meeting held Jan. 24.
In other tourism news, Korean online travel agency, Good Choice, acquired Online Tour, making it a subsidiary of the platform. According to GVB, the acquisition would expand Good Choice’s outbound travel division through Online Tour’s extensive network and operational expertise.
The Muan International Airport in Korea is likely to remain closed until October as upgrades are needed to its localizer following the crash of Jeju flight 2216.
According to GVB,” The prolonged closure of Muan Airport has cast a shadow over its growth, wiping out significant travel demand during the peak winter holiday season and Lunar New Year period.”
In the Japanese market, GVB’s GOGO GUAM Håfa Adai Campaign began on Jan. 30, with the naming of Japanese television personality Tetsuko “Peco” Okuhira as its ambassador.
Peco has more than 2.5 million followers on social media and according to GVB, praised Guam as Japan’s closest U.S. destination for travel and learning English.
Also, GVB announced the successful completion of the Guam Wedding Campaign, an Instagram contest in Japan centered around couples sharing their photos or videos of their Guam weddings for a chance to win a round-trip ticket to the island and a two-to-three-day hotel stay.
The campaign was a part of GVB’s Japan Marketing Committee’s second quarter promotion to attract niche tourism markets.
Acting GVB President and CEO, Gerald S.A. Perez said that the wedding market is one component of the Special Interest Tours initiative that the Bureau is redeveloping in the Japan and Korean source markets.
Perez said the goal is to reestablish Guam as a special destination and encourage group travel.
Coinciding with GVB’s campaign, Arluis Wedding Guam announced the “renewal opening” of the Jewel by the Sea Chapel at the Hyatt Regency Guam, hosting a reopening event on Feb. 11.
In a Feb. 17 statement by GVB, the bureau wrote that the event was well attended and featured a mock wedding to showcase the renewed chapel.
Arluis Wedding Guam offers island wedding packages to Guam’s tourism source markets and locals and has been in the industry for over 18 years, according to GVB. mbj
Regional leaders, government officials, and industry executives gathered at the Guam International Airport Authority on Wednesday, July 22 for the inaugural session of the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Working Group, driving a unified regional effort to expand the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program to include the Philippines.
The commercial adult-use cannabis industry on Guam has officially launched following the issuance of the island's first recreational cannabis cultivation license to local grower Stephen Roberto, operator for Deep Green Guam of Guam Real Deal, LLC.
The Guam Economic Development Authority awarded $316,857.94 in grant funding to 17 local community organizations and public agencies during a check presentation ceremony at Adelup on Wednesday, July 15.
