A bill has been introduced by Senator Benjamin Cruz which would force Guam’s adult entertainment establishments like strip clubs, massage parlors, and adult video stores to be forced to relocate away from Tumon, the main tourist district of the island.  The legislation was introduced by the senator as a result of the Guam Visitors Bureau, Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association, and the Japan Guam Travel Association voicing concerns of aggressive marketing tactics from these adult establishments.  If Guam is to be advertised as a family-friendly travel destination then something must be done with all the advertising and signs promoting the large number of adult businesses along San Vitores Road.

According to Bill 314, adult businesses would need to relocate within 5 years from the Tumon area to areas zoned as M1 or M2 zones.  Based on this information the most practical area these adult business would relocate to would be the Harmon Industrial Park District, creating a sort of  “red light district” for the island of Guam.

Tags: benjamin cruz, ghra, guam adult entertainment, guam adult shops, guam bill 314, guam hotel and restaurant association, guam strip clubs, guam visitors bureau, gvb, japan guam travel association, senator benjamin cruz, tumon

If your wondering where all the rain is coming from lately it is because a typhoon is approaching near Guam and the Northern Marianas.  Typhoon Choi-Wan will make its closest approach to the island tommorrow afternoon.  The typhoon doesn’t pose a threat to the island of Guam because it won’t pass in close proximity to Guam to be much of a threat, but the island will still experience lots of rain and high surf because of the typhoon.  So expect a wet and rainy next few days on the island!

Tags: guam storm, guam tropical storm, guam typhoon, typhoon choi wan, Weather

If you haven’t heard already, there will be a partial solar eclipse viewable on Guam starting at around 11:00am on July 22, 2009  and lasting until about 2:00pm.  The solar eclipse will maximize at 12:53pm at which time it will be the most noticeable when the moon covers about 75% of the sun from our view.  Guam is one of the few places which is part of the U.S. which will be able to view the solar eclipse because of the path the moon takes in the sky in addition to the time at which the solar eclipse takes place.  Watch the KUAM News report about the solar eclipse below:

Tags: 2009 guam solar eclipse, 2009 solar eclipse, guam eclipse, guam solar eclipse, pam eastlick, solar eclipse on guam

Today marks the 65th Liberation Day of Guam, and Guam Portal would like to wish everyone on Guam a Happy Liberation Day!  If you haven’t already done so you should stop by Paseo Park and check out the Liberation Day Carnival or head on over towards the Hagatna area along Marine Drive to watch the Liberation Day Parade!

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

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Chamorro’s can be proud they now have an official Chamorro dictionary to call their own as of Monday.  There was an unveiling ceremony at the Chamorro Village in Hagatna yesterday for the island’s first Chamorro dictionary where a limited number of copies were sold to the public for $50.

The Chamorro dictionary is the most comprehensive one ever created of the Chamorro language containing 9,000 Chamorro words complete with English definitions, sentence examples, and grammatical notes.

Only 3,000 copies of the Chamorro dictionary were printed on the first run due to limited funding, but as more of the dictionaries are sold the profits will be used to make more copies with a goal of getting the Chamorro dictionary into public schools for the children.  Copies of the dictionary can be purchased at the Department of Chamorro Affairs office at the Chamorro Village.

Tags: chamorro, chamorro dictionary, chamorro language, guam dictionary, guam language, official chamorro dictionary

If you were asleep at 1:00am this morning you might have been awaken by your bed shaking.  At around 1:00am this morning a 5.5 magnitude earthquake rattled Guam.  The news didn’t report any structural damage or injuries on the island due to the earthquake.  The epicenter of the earthquake was located about 50 miles northeast of Hagatna Guam.

Tags: guam earthquake

The price of gas on Guam is going up as Shell Guam raised the price of unleaded gas by 10 cents yesterday.  Regular unleaded gas at Shell gas stations is now $3.24 per gallon, and premium gas costs $3.54 per gallon of gas – a 12 cents increase from the previous price.

The island has two other gas companies which are Mobil and 76 Stations, but because the gas stations on Guam usually mirror each other’s gas prices residents will also probably see a rise in gas prices at the other stations.

Tags: guam gas, guam gas price, guam gas prices

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?

Tags: 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.

Tags: 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.

Tags: guam shark, guam shark attack, guam shark bite