While at the U.S. ambassador to Japan's residence in Tokyo, Gov. Lou Leon Guerero and her delegation were greeted with a familiar tune. A Japanese performance group sang "O Saina," welcoming the group in Guam's native tongue.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero called it a "good investment" because the leader of the dance troupe came to a decade ago. While on Guam speaking with war survivors, the woman was inspired by the island's culture and was taught by Master of CHamoru Dance Frank Rabon. The performance was an example of the unique things our island has to offer as a tourism destination.

That was a big part of the trip, with the governor officially meeting with U.S. Ambassador Joseph Young and key Japan travel and tourism players during the trip paid for with funds from the Guam Visitor's Bureau.

"The biggest accomplishment is we were introduced as the new leadership both in the GVB board and government officials and very thankful that I could go out there because it means a lot to GVB, the governor said. "You know GVB and tourism is really the biggest economy we have. It's 60 percent of our revenues and also we yield about $1.4 billion in the economy for tourism so we need to always support them and always be committed so that's why we went out there.

The governor says she is also pushing for more direct flights from new markets in Japan to Guam.

"We tried to influence the aviation people they're like the FAA to have the flights come out of Haneda to Guam," Leon Guerrero said. "They couldn't do that airspace and so forth so we're working with the other airlines to try to see if we can start getting more visitors out of Haneda.

The governor was accompanied by First Gentleman Jeff Cook, Special Assistant Eliza Dames and GVB leadership. She says valuable networking with the U.S. ambassador to Japan may have gotten Guam a new partner in pursuing more tourism dollars from the country.

"And one of the functions of the embassy there in Japan is to bring more Japanese business to the United States and so he's encouraging also a greater market share from Japan to Guam," Leon Guerrero said. "So it's really very productive."

The trip marked the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration's first official state visit to Japan, and the governor said networking with the country's tourism stakeholders will make inroads towards more visitor arrivals for Guam.

"We met with the head of the JATA and this is the guy that can influence all the other agencies to book flights to Guam and encourage their market to come to Guam," the governor said. "And then we with JTA which is the Japan Travel Agency which is the equivalent of GVB for the government officials and they were also very supportive."

There are currently four airlines operating 64 flights per week directly from Japan to Guam, according to GVB. In addition, there are 800 charter flights being scheduled in 2019, which provide additional air seats. GVB President & CEO Pilar Laguaña was also part of the Guam delegation in Japan.

“Guam must do all that it can to attract more air seat inventory and fill those seats to regain our market position in Japan," she said. "Due to the volatile industry that we are in, we must continue to go after more air seats. We must equally ensure that our product, as a destination, is prepared to welcome our visitors and generate economic benefit for our island community.”