By
Fred R. Schumann, Ph.D.
Over
the last five decades Guam's tourism industry has served as an engine for its
economic growth. However, not all
segments of the community of Guam actively engage in commercial activities with
tourists and therefore receive little direct benefits from the tourism
industry. Because of the many large corporations involved in the tour
agent-dominated industry, economic benefits for residents are further reduced
due to a high level of leakage of the tourists' spending on Guam. The direct income for an area is the amount of
tourist expenditure that remains locally after taxes, profits, and wages are
paid outside the area and after imports are purchased; these subtracted amounts
are called leakage. Recent tourism
studies show that each visitor to Guam spends $1,100 on-island, but as much as
54% ends up leaving Guam. Leakage
estimates in other destinations like the Caribbean islands are as high as 80%. One way to address the issue of leakage is
for residents to work together as a community and better market locally
produced tourism products that meet the needs of visitors.
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|
Dr.
Anita Borja Enriquez with a shopkeeper from Yufuin, Oita. Customers can sample
local jams and observe the production of goods--all part of the shopping
experience.
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A
team from the University of Guam is in the process of gathering data to develop
an inventory of agricultural clusters by village and will be using this
information to encourage the creation of value-added products by village
residents. The team, comprised of
members from the School of Business and Public Administration, then plans to
introduce the One-Village-One-Product (OVOP) strategy through the linking of
village agriculture and heritage tourism. This strategy is being implemented on
Guam so that residents may benefit economically from the tourism industry by
building up linkages with suppliers of goods and services for commercial
activities involving signature products from each village.
.jpg "Assortment of kabosu products. Kabosu is a juicy green citrus fruit (like Yuzu) with the sharpness of lemon, used in Japanese dishes.")
OVOP
was first introduced by Governor Hiramatsu in Oita, Japan. Successfully implemented as a regional
development program in 1979, the communities had to selectively produce goods
with highly added value and one village should produce one product that was
competitive and stable and use this particular product to gain sales revenue in
the market. In Oita, the average annual
income doubled, with OVOP products now sold in Narita International Airport and
Kansai International Airport, thus making revenues for villages involved in the
OVOP movement. Similarly, the promotion
of residents’ engagement in value-added production and service will result in
economic self-sufficiency at the village level.
This can lead to export potential of heritage-based food and agriculture
products, and ultimately to shrink leakage and maximize the circulation of
tourism revenue within the local economy.
The
team plans to develop a map similar to that of Oita and further develop
economic opportunities for residents by linking village agriculture and
heritage tourism. It involves pursuing a
specialization strategy with each of Guam’s 19 villages identifying one or two
products, goods or services that will eventually create a specific image to
attract visitors and investments. The
purpose is to show that each village has some uniqueness in terms of its
history, culture, agriculture, or natural beauty.
For
more information, contact the Guam OVOP project team at 735-2525 or
guamovop@gmail.com.
Fred R. Schumann, Ph.D. is
a resident tourism expert with the UOG Pacific Center for Economic Initiatives,
and Associate Professor of Global Resources Management at the School of
Business and Public Administration, University of Guam.
