The Guam Visitors Bureau's board of directors voted today to lift the "interim" president and vice president titles from former governor Carl Gutierrez and Dr. Gerry Perez. They are now both permanently hired to the positions.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez explained the latest guidance from Governor Lou Leon Guerrero on the reopening of tourism, noting, "She already determined what the protocol is for the high-risk, and she's trying to move forward in the next week or so or even earlier, for the low-risk protocol, because the three areas that we get our tourists from, Korea, Japan and Taiwan are all low-risk, so when we decide over the next few days that we're still good on those numbers percentages, then we can just market that Japan is low-risk, you can come into Guam."

Gutierrez says the board today also discussed so-called bubble agreements with markets that are also low risk, including a reciprocity agreement with the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

"Everybody knows that Hawaii is a safe destination. They're doing a good job in marketing that. But if they do a protocol reciprocity with Hawaii in their islands, then that will really sell Guam to Japan, as well, that we are indeed a safe place," Gutierrez stated.

However, a date certain for the reopening of tourism has not yet been set.