Guam is providing ‘vaccine tourism’ to boost up economy

Monday, June 7, 2021

With Guam’s tourism getting devastated by the pandemic, is keen on refilling the beaches and hotels once again. And as destinations from New York to the Maldives to Russia offer vaccinations to attract tourists, Guam has plans to introduce an effort related to “vaccine tourism” but with a twist.

Guam catered mainly to the Asian families seeking sun, sand and golf course before the pandemic hot the remote destination. Authorities in recent months noticed expatriates from America usually solo, coming from countries in the region with slow vaccination rollouts. At a government-run hotel, the American visitors were willing to stay up to two weeks’ mandatory quarantine for the chance to get vaccinated. In order to finish their two-dose Pfizer or Moderna regimen, they would often stay for up to a month. This chance was grabbed by the officials to leverage their unusual location. At 5,800 miles west of the U.S. mainland, Guam happens to be the nearest piece of America to Asia.

“The win-win is really all over the place,” the governor said, sporting a traditional flower head lei. “We can vaccinate the U.S. expats. Those people will be protected. And in the meantime, they’re having a nice time in Guam. We are benefiting from their economic input as a result of that.”

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