Guam Visitor's Bureau

Guam Visitor’s Bureau

Background:

Guam is an unincorporated territory of the U.S with a population strength of 1,75000. The island has a very diverse population and has two U.S military bases which benefit the local economy. The major contributor to the gross revenue of the island (60%) is tourism which also provides 35% of the jobs in the Island. Most of the tourists were from Japan and Korea.

The GVB (Guam Visitor’s Bureau) is the tourist commission of Guam with a large size of board of directors and numerous committees under their governance. There were a number of interest groups in Guam with members in the board of directors of GVB.

1. Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association (GHRA): Brought together majority of hotels, restaurants and tourism industry in Guam. GHRA has two members in the board of directors of GVB.

2. Goa Tourism Foundation (GTF): Provides awareness of tourism industry in Guam and improves relations with tourist markets. GVB, GHRA, JGTA and Guam international airport authorities were members.

3. Japan Guam Travel Association (JGTA): Comprised mostly of travel agents. JGTA has two members in the board of directors of GVB.

Issues:

1. Large size of board of directors, committees made for a slow decision making process.

2. The supply of skilled and unskilled labour was limited and importation of labour from other countries was required.

3. Market research conducted by Business tune up indicates that the hotels believe their service is superior to that provided by the government and non-government institutions of Guam.

4. Tourism industry was overly dependent on airlines. Very few cruise ships were available to Guam.

5. The supplies were transported to Guam via ship. So everything was more expensive here than in the landlocked countries.

6. The local inhabitants were wary of outsiders with a general antagonism towards the Japanese community.

7. There