Probably one of Guam’s most popular dive spot, the Blue Hole was removed from a list of destinations around the world which were competing to be elected as one of the New Seven Natural Wonders of the World, an international competition held by the New7Wonders Foundation.

The reason stated for the delisting of the Blue Hole from the competition was because the Guam Visitors Bureau chose not to submit paperwork as a committee to support it as a nominee in the competition.  Guam Visitors Bureau President, Gerry Perez stated the reason GVB decided not to submit the paperwork was because they questioned the validity of the New7Wonders Foundation and the competition.  There was concern about the foundation and competition’s  for-profit goals, and the fact that it was not connected to UNSECO which has been documenting significant places around the world for almost 3 decades.

It’s possible that Guam could have lost a large sum of tourism revenue from the positive press the island could have received by being part of the competition.  The competition has been covered by many news and media outlets around the world including USA Today, Newsweek, Time Magazine, and Fox News just to name a few.  Any amount of press and worldwide attention which required little or no cost in a slumping economy would have been beneficial for the island in our opinion, but I guess we’ll really never know how much the worldwide attention would have benefited Guam now.

So do you think GVB made a mistake or did the right thing by not supporting the Blue Hole as a nominee in the New7Wonders competition?

Topics: blue hole, blue hole guam, guam dive, guam dive spot, guam diving, guam visitors bureau, gvb, new7wonders, new7wonders competition

This weekend it was announced that the Guam Aurora Resort and Spa will be closing its hotel rooms and will be suspending its main operations on June 1, although the restaurant and spa located in the hotel will remain open for business.  The closing of the hotel rooms is said to be only temporary, and although there is no definitive date as to when operations will resume the hotel’s general manager stated it would most likely occur when the local economy on Guam starts to pick up again when the military relocates to the island.

Declining tourism arrivals and hotel bookings because of the decline in the global economy and fears of the current swine flu epidemic have been contributing factors.

Over the last year, Guam’s tourism industry, as well as the global tourism industry, has been negatively effected by the downturn in the global economy.  In addition, recent news of the swine flu epidemic have magnified the problems for tourism on Guam as Japanese visitors decide to travel less because of fears, even though there have been no reported cases of swine flu on Guam to date.

Topics: aurora resort and spa, guam aurora resort, guam aurora resort and spa, guam hotel, Tourism

Two days ago we made a post about the first shark attack on Guam since 2006 and wanted to do an update on the post.  Apparently, the incident wasn’t a legitimate shark attack like we all invision.  According to the person who got bit by the shark, he and a group of friends were spear fishing in the ocean off the coast of Gun Beach when they spotted the shark at which time he decided to spear the shark.  When he was carrying it to shore he accidentally tripped on the coral reef , fell, and was bit by the shark.  After the shark bit the victim it swam away;  the vicitim didn’t know what type of shark it was that bit him.

Topics: guam shark, guam shark attack, guam shark bite

It’s rare you hear of shark attacks in the waters of Guam because most of the island is surrounded by a protective reef about a mile out from it’s shores, and sharks rarely come inside the reef whether it’s because the reef blocks them from swimming in or just because the waters are to shallow within the reef.

Yesterday was the exception, a man swimming inside the reef at Ritidian Point which is on the north side of Guam was bit by  a shark.  The man said he didn’t know what type of shark it was, but did need to go to Guam Memorial Hospital to receive surgery.

The last known shark bite case happened in 2006 when a Japanese tourist was bitten by a tiger shark while scuba diving at Gun Beach.  According to the report the shark was chasing a turtle which swam through the group of scuba diver and it’s teeth scraped one of the Japanese tourists leg.

In most shark attack cases, like in the case above, sharks usually mistake the person they bite as either a seal, turtle, or other type of sea life they often feed upon.  Once the shark realizes the person isn’t “lunch” so to speak they usually stop biting and swim off.

Guam does have a variety of sharks which live in the surrounding waters including black-tip sharks, white-tip sharks, nurse sharks, tiger sharks, and hammerhead sharks just to name a few.  Most of these sharks usually live and swim outside of Guam’s protective coral reef.

It’s safe to say most tourists and visitors to Guam shouldn’t be concerned about shark attacks while swimming inside the reef.  The amount of shark attacks on Guam is extremely minimal when compared to other places around the world and shouldn’t be a deterrent for swimming in the beautiful ocean waters of Guam.

Topics: guam shark, guam shark attack, guam shark bite, ritidian point