Бюджету туристического управления Гуама сократят финансирование на 2,4 млн долларов из-за пересчета поступлений

The Guam Visitors Bureau may see some $2.4 million less than requested for fiscal year 2027, according to brief budget discussions Wednesday morning. The governor’s request for the tourism bureau sat roughly $31.4 million, while the Guam Legislature’s substitute budget bill, lawmakers planned to appropriate nearly $29 million. Office of Finance and Budget director Stephen Guerrero said the $2.4 million budget cut stems from how the agency is tracking Tourist Attraction Fund collections. Budget oversight chairman Sen. Chris Duenas said the TAF is not tracking to the level set out on the executive budget request. Guerrero said total TAF collections for fiscal year 2026 were projected at $33.6 million, but OFB is tracking $31.6 million so far. “We’re slightly off, about $2 million from our mark, but we still got four more months to go,” he said. Tourism figures so far this year are still less than half of pre-COVID numbers, which have been compounded by a string of super typhoons, spiking jet fuel costs, and the continued weak exchange rate of the Japanese yen and South Korean won to the U.S. dollar. OFB is projects $34.8 million in TAF collections for fiscal year 2027. The bureau has its sights set for an optimistic visitor arrival goal of 1.1 million for the next fiscal year, with moderate and conservative forecasts set at 934,567 and 774,964 respectively.