by Jason Salas, KUAM News Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Subscribe to Jason's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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While today's membership meeting of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association was generally formulaic and procedural, chairman Bart Jackson got the room's full attention with a little gem: revealing that the GHRA is mulling over the possibility of isolating the island's sex industry.

And now that I've likewise captivated your attention, while there are undoubtedly moral arguments against the commercial support of such a location on the island, here's a breakdown of what could possibly be a new way for the island to consolidate mature content.

A necessary evil and perpetually unspoken source of commerce on Guam is the island's blue industry - businesses like strip clubs, faux massage parlors, and adult DVD and video shops. A new concept developed by the GHRA seeks to realign Tumon, not allowing such businesses to operate in the island's tourism capitol. "We're not in favor of creating a red light district," clarified Jackson, "what we're in favor of is rezoning Tumon and the current Hotel Row area so that strip clubs and massage places are not allowed to be registered there."

While Jackson strenuously maintained that the Association's membership doesn't have a position on the moral implications of a dedicated area for mature entertainment, he did note the commercial implications for military, visitor and residential markets...for those choosing that form of commerce. "It's not our position to decide whether they're right or not right, this is not a morality play. Rather it's a realistic assessment of what our tourists are looking for," added Jackson.

"And potentially there's an incompatibility between a family of Japanese visitors or Korean visitors walking down and coming into contact with strip clubs and massage places. And the idea is to move them to a separate location - away from the hotels, away from the tourists. And then if people want to frequent them, then that's their business."

Jackson admits this bold business idea isn't completely original, having been proven in markets much larger and more affluent than our own. He announced, "This approach has been used in lots of places. It's not unique, and so we're looking to create I think a more appropriate rezoning of those kinds of activities so that moving forward, we can continue to develop the tourism product along the proper lines."

So the assumption of moving mature content out of Tumon may work for future interests looking to setup shop; but what becomes of those businesses already in place along the profitable Hotel Row? Drilling down into the mechanics of how to deal with today's businesses, Jackson told KUAM News, "You create specific business allowances and certain types of businesses are allowed to operate in these zones and certain types are not. And whether or not they want to relocate or whether or not they want to go out of business is their decision. But our effort would be towards creating a zoning area that would outlaw these types of industries. And principally, those would be strip shows, massage places (although we do have a lot of legitimate massage operations) and that's something we'll have to work with, as well as the adult supply industry."

The idea is hypothetical at this point and discussions have yet to take place with local leaders from clergy, government and various special interest groups whose interest will be inevitable. For the moment, Jackson says, the idea remains in its infancy (possible choices for a locale have also yet to be determined). He forecasted an optimistic reaction, saying, "This is a private sector agenda at this point, a private sector initiative. I'm sure we'll come in contact with those folks eventually and hopefully we can get their support. I think certainly it's good for the island and it's good for tourism and it's hard to imagine that there would be anyone against it."

Again reinforcing the distant position towards the morality of blue entertainment, Jackson said, "Again, it's not our position to say whether they're good for the economy of they're bad for the economy; certainly there are some segments of the population that frequent them more than others. That's not a problem for us. But we're sure that our main tourism markets are not in favor of them, and if they want to visit them, then they'd still be available, as well."

Not surprisingly there are a litany of environments to consider in the interest of quality tourism - moral, economic, competitive, health-oriented. The success of Jackson's rezoning concept, if such a theory is brought to fruition, is also going to be social in nature.

At the end of the day, do you as a resident want adult establishments consolidated within a designated area?