Pictured above is a section of the  “We are Guam, We are Mangilao” mural which was created in the beginning of January in the village of Mangilao as part of the “We Are Guam” branding initiative by the Guam Visitors Bureau.  The program is meant to showcase the brand identity of Guam and it’s different villages.  This was the first mural to go up in the village of Mangilao out of the upcoming total of 19 for all Guam villages.  The mural in Mangilao depicts scenes which relate to the village of Mangilao.  The next “We Are Guam” mural will be created in the village of Yigo.

So if your visiting Guam and in the village of Mangilao be sure to check out the 114 x 14 feet mural which is in the intersection of Routes 10 and 15.

Note: To see the full mural click on the image above.

Although the amount of tourists who visited Guam increased in September, the total amount of visitors for the year will fall short of the total visitors compared to last year according to the Guam Visitors Bureau.

Last year the island saw an overall total of 1.14 million visitors to Guam for the year, while projections for this year will be around 1.05 million tourists.  A survey by GVB also showed that tourists who come to Guam are also spending less on average than they did last year.

The decline in Guam’s tourism industry is more than likely a result of the bad global economy, but with analysts saying the worst is over hopefully our tourism industry will begin to pickup next year.  One aspect which might help improve the amount of visitors to Guam in the near future is the current decline of the United States dollar when compared to other world currencies.  A weak U.S. dollar makes it more affordable for visitors from other countries to vacation in U.S. destinations while hopefully spending more, as the weak U.S. dollar give these international visitors more spending power during their vacation.  The current decline in the U.S. dollar with respect to the Japanese yen can be a positive situation for Guam, as a majority of tourists who visit Guam come from Japan.

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?

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.