Marianas gains presence on US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board

Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio has been appointed to the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board by commerce secretary Gary Locke.

Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Perry Tenorio has been appointed to the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board by commerce secretary Gary Locke. Tenorio was nominated for the position in September, 2009 by US Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan.

โ€œI am very grateful to Secretary Locke for agreeing to my recommendation and giving the Northern Mariana Islands a voice on the Board,โ€ said Kilili. โ€œThis is an honor for Mr. Tenorio and will give our tourism industry valuable visibility and clout in shaping national tourism policies.โ€

The 29-member board represents a cross-section of the US travel and tourism industry with appointees from transportation and financial services, from hotel and restaurant businesses, and from many different geographic areas of the country.

Among the board members is Richard Anderson, chief executive officer of Delta Airlines, one of the Northern Mariana Islands most important tourism partners.
Also on board is Chuck Floyd, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Global Hyatt Corporation.

In making the announcement of the appointments in Washington on Tuesday, Locke said: โ€œThe health and stability of the travel and tourism industry touches all regions and impacts employment and economic strength across the country. I look forward to working with the Travel and Tourism Board to develop policies that can help put Americans back to work in this critical sector.โ€

The chief responsibility of the Advisory Board is to provide counsel to the secretary on government policies and programs that affect the US travel and tourism industry. The board also provides a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to industry-related concerns.

The Secretaries of State, Homeland Security, and Transportation serve on the board as ex-officio, non-voting members.

โ€œTourism is the most important industry in the Northern Mariana Islands,โ€ Kilili noted. โ€œWe will now have our Visitors Authorityโ€™s managing director in close contact with some of the most important companies in the business. Mr. Tenorio will be helping Secretary Locke to decide where the US Commerce Department deploys its resources to support tourism development. And we certainly hope that more of those resources will be directed to our part of the United States. This appointment has to have a very positive impact to strengthen tourism in the Northern Marianas.โ€

The new board will serve from 2010 to 2011. The Department of Commerce will schedule the boardโ€™s inaugural meeting in the coming weeks.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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