Expanding Tourism Opportunities for the Marianas
Tourism is critically important to the economies of both the CNMI and Guam. And for tourism to work, to provide jobs for our people and revenue for our governments, it requires one critical ingredient: tourists. In our part of the world, those tourists do not come from California or New York. They come from the countries that surround us. That is why I was proud to join Rep. Moylan of Guam in introducing H.R. 10341, the Marianas Tourism Advancement Act of 2026, to expand the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program and make it easier for visitors from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Mongolia to visit our islands. Expanding the program would give the CNMI and Guam new opportunities to grow tourism, strengthen air connectivity, diversify our visitor markets, and create economic opportunities for local businesses and workers. These six countries represent important and growing markets across the Indo-Pacific, and opening greater access to them would help the Marianas compete for more visitors from our region. The legislation also includes clear, fact-based criteria for suspending a participating country when necessary to protect the security, safety, or interests of the CNMI, Guam, or the United States. We have spent a lot of time talking about rebuilding tourism. This legislation is one concrete step toward giving our tourism industry access to more of the people who live close enough to visit us. I also had the opportunity to join members of the Guam-CNMI-Philippines Working Group for a press conference on the legislation and the work that has gone into moving this effort forward. I thank Guam Senator Jesse Lujan for being such a strong partner in this effort and for helping keep the Marianas working together on an issue that is so important to both of our economies. View my remarks from the press conference here.