by Krystal Paco

Guam - It's the fastest growing market globally and local tourism officials are hoping to jump on board. Despite a record breaking 1.3 million visitors last year, Senator Tina Muna Barnes reports there could've been more.

Barnes, who recently returned from a cruise ship conference in Miami, advocates for diversifying the visitor industry without burdening the island's existing infrastructure. "We did turn away two hundred thousand visitors because of a lack of hotel rooms and one of the suggestions or recommendations that came up is that cruise line visitors who would come they come with their rooms they don't need to have to hotel rooms," she said.

President of the Micronesian Cruise Association Gerry Perez encourages that Guam jump on board as the cruise line capacity continues to grow."Globally 26 new ships are going to be introduced in the next 3 years 11 new ships coming online this year alone. Last year 14 new ships were introduced and there's $14.9 billion in ship construction now for 22 new ships on order from now until 2016," he said.

Perez says Guam would be just one component of a multi-island tour to include Palau, Yap, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Chuuk, Phonpei, Kosrae, and the Marshall Islands as the Micronesia region is an undiscovered destination with a unique position near the growing cruise industry in the Asia-Pacific.

"The other goal is to expose a new side of Micronesia by instilling a perception of the region as a luxury travel destination particularly among these expeditionary ships that tend to be younger, higher income," he said.

The long-term goal is to establish a minimum of two ships home ported on Guam during the off-season or during the year. Guam has already had a taste of the industry as Perez reports from the period of 2008 to 2012, 27,000 cruisers arrived to the island, 70% of which came ashore spending an average of $154.

More recently, the princess cruise arrived to Guam last month. Using the same calculations, Perez says all 700 cruisers spent $108,000 ashore. "When you add all the GRT and the payroll tax, these 700 people basically contributed about $100,000 into the Guam economy for just that one-day visit," he said.

Perez estimates developing this industry will take decades as locally and regionally we are challenged with facilities, regulatory framework and uniformity between the islands as well as streamlining vessel clearances.