PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

By Joe Murphy

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Oct. 22) – Today I am both a pioneer and a skeptic. The pioneer title was given to me the other day by some very nice ladies at the Guam Visitors Bureau, possibly because I was smart enough to be around Guam at the birth of the visitor industry. The skeptic name was my own invention, because initially I didn't think tourism would take off as it did and become the blessing to the island it has become over the years.

That shows you what kind of pundit I am.

This is, indeed, the 40th anniversary of tourism on Guam. The big event, called a "gala dinner" will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 27 at the Sheraton Laguna Resort.

I suspect the real pioneer of tourism can be traced back to President John F. Kennedy and his strong Texas supporter, Gov. Bill Daniel. Kennedy, with Daniel's encouragement, issued an executive order to repeal that odious pre-war edict which required naval security clearance before anyone could enter Guam, which made tourism impossible. The executive order was signed in 1962.

The following year Gov. Manuel F.L Guerrero issued an executive order establishing the Guam Tourism Commission within the Department of Commerce, which was under the auspices of Jose D. Leon Guerrero. Leon Guerrero was also responsible for establishing and administering the government's airport.

Guerrero, whom I knew very well, was clever enough to appoint another friend of mine, Rex Wills of Hawaii, to manage the newly born Guam Visitors Bureau. Wills was smart enough to bring a top-rated photographer out to Guam to take photos of our island beauty spots, and to produce Guam's first brochure.

Wills was always interested in Japan and the Japanese as tourists. I remember one time, in the early 1960s, how he brought a variety of Japanese food to Guam.

There were a lot of fresh, smart pioneers in those days. I remember Pete Sgro and Pete Ada, who were convinced that Guam needed a first-class hotel for tourists. They tried to talk Pan Am into doing something about the visitor industry and even spent a lot of money for a survey of our needs. Right after the arrival of the Pan Am flight, the idea and funds for the Guam Hilton were brought forth.

The Guam Visitors Bureau officials have made a list of the first inaugural flight passengers on the Pan Am trip to Tokyo. It was a very big event for the island, and included about 17 of us "pioneers": Denver Dickerson, secretary of Guam and a former journalist; attorney Joaquin C. Arriola, speaker of the Legislature; Jesus C. Okiyama and Bill Flores, both legislators; U.S. Marshal Frank Santos; and businessmen Pete Sgro, Pete Ada, Bob Berry and Earl Kloppenburg; and journalists Tony Palomo of the Pacific Journal and myself, editor of the then Guam Daily News. Ken Jones and Bobby Jones were part of the delegation, along with Pan Am's Will Synder.

Ken and Bob Jones, at the time, owned the Marianas Travel Agency, which provided brochures to travel agents in Japan, encouraging them to consider Guam as a vacation destination.

There was Bob Six, who inaugurated Continental/Air Micronesia passenger service between Guam and Honolulu and the Micronesian islands.

Also part of the delegation: Alfred Ysreal, who opened the Fujita Hotel with 60 rooms; Joe Blas of Hafa Adai Tours; Carol Cook of Guam America Hotel; Herbert Fukuda, of Hafa Adai Travel Service; and Tak Takeda of Japan Air Lines.

One of my best friends, in those days, was Earl Kloppenburg, who had a gift shop, a couple of restaurants, The Office, Earl's Hut, a small hotel and later, an airline catering business and a bus tour business, Turtle Tours.

The reason why I was such a skeptic at the time was that Guam was such a major military community. We had B-52s and bomb trucks going down the main road. I couldn't imagine both industries, tourism and military, occupying the same island.

Nor did we have much in the way of hotels and other facilities. I failed to recognize the attraction that the warm ocean water would have for the Japanese. Nor did I envision the hordes of beautiful hotels that have been built since.

One of my fondest memories came from that inaugural flight to Tokyo and our stay at Frank Lloyd Wright's famed Imperial Palace Hotel in Tokyo, right across from the Imperial Palace grounds. That first night there a group of young Guamanians, including Joaquin Arriola, Pete Ada Jr. and others sang, chanted, and danced the Chamorro wedding song in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel, to the amusement and delight of the other guests.

Guam's tourism industry now brings in millions of dollars annually and has created as many as 20,000 jobs, earning over US$600 million in annual wages and benefits. Some months back I talked to a group of people and told them that we get 1.3 million tourists a year on Guam. I heard a large gasp from those in attendance.

I think the best is yet to come when I think of the possibilities of the Chinese tourism market.

What we still need is an island cleanup and more tourist attractions. Still, when I look back over those 40 years, I can say without fear of contradiction that Guam has done well with this industry.

Pacific Daily News

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