A steam plume flows blows south from the peak of Pagan Island’s northernmost volcano in this photograph by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA Earth Observatory / Flickr

The remote island of Pagan in the western Pacific is home to volcanoes, endangered species and the remnants of an ancient civilization.

For biologists, the island about 330 miles north of Guam is the perfect place for ecological research.

But for the U.S. military, Pagan could be the solution to a search for new training grounds to practice shelling, dropping bombs and other large-scale exercises.

The proposal, which is still in the early stages, is part of the U.S. military’s broader effort to focus more on the Asia-Pacific region. Pagan is one of 14 islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory that is just a few hours by plane from China, Russia and Korea.

Maj. Neal Fisher says the process is just getting started and the military has been seeking input from all stakeholders. He says the military is committed to being a good neighbor and a good steward of the environment.

But the proposal has already been criticized by some who worry about how the project could hurt the island’s natural and archaeological resources.

The commonwealth’s Gov. Eloy Inos says the proposal could harm the island’s wildlife, damage historical sites, curb fishing and tourism and displace the handful of people living on the island.

Inos says the military should conduct additional studies to address the issues. But some residents say there would be no way to mitigate the damage.

“It would be total destruction,” said William Torres, a former lawmaker in the Northern Marianas who has been active in raising awareness about the proposal.

Torres says that in the past, he has supported developing a military presence on Pagan. But he says the current plan for continuous live-fire training across the entire island crosses the line.

Torres is worried the island could turn into another Kahoolawe. The Hawaiian island served as military training grounds for decades and is now littered with unexploded ordinances.

Fisher says such concerns don’t take into account the Marine Corp.’s disciplined training exercises and its commitment to leaving places better than they were found.

“It’s very focused, very detailed firing,” he said. “It won’t be willy nilly all over the island.”

Fisher says the proposal could also boost the economies of neighboring islands such as Saipan and Guam.

Pagan residents who were evacuated following a 1981 volcanic eruption are also worried the plan could prevent resettlement.

Jerome Aldan left Pagan when he was 8 years old. He has been urging the local government to move forward with a plan to help former residents like him move back to the island and he is worried the military training exercises could leave it uninhabitable.

Fisher says the military is in the process of drafting an environmental impact statement to analyze the potential effects of the plan, which would also affect parts of the neighboring island of Tinian.

Because the proposal is in its initial stages, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation don’t have official positions on the issue. They say they plan to keep watch on the plan as it develops.

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Vieira, 57, who has been Starwood’s senior vice president of operations for the two areas since 1998, has been a fixture in Hawaii’s hospitality industry for 40 years. Born and raised in Hilo, Vieira rose quickly in the industry and worked his way up from bouncer and bellhop to become one of the state’s only local senior tourism managers.

“It was a difficult decision to leave, but it’s the right time,” Vieira said in a news release. “Thanks to the hard work and tremendous spirit of our team, we have not only made it to the other side of the financial crisis, but our business is stronger than it has ever been and our leaders and associates in the region are the best in the business.”

During the 32 years that Vieira spent with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., he enlarged its presence in Hawaii and French Polynesia to 14 hotels. He also made numerous contributions to Hawaii’s visitor industry beyond Starwood. Vieira served two terms on the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the agency that sets tourism policy and decides how to spend the state’s tourism budget. He also served on the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Oahu Visitors Bureau.

“I would like to thank Keith for his numerous contributions to Starwood throughout his three-decade career with the company, and recognize the critical role he and his team have played in building Starwood’s enviable position in this highly competitive hospitality market,” said Sergio Rivera, Starwood’s co-president, The Americas.

“We are grateful for Keith’s service, and wish him the best in the next chapter of his career.”

Rivera and Bob Hermany, Starwood’s chief operating officer for North America, are heading the search to find Vieira’s replacement. The company will consider internal and external candidates.

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The stock fell as much as 8.7 percent to 42 Australian cents, headed for the biggest drop since July 2011, before trading at 43 cents as of 10:59 a.m. Profit before tax and one-time items in the 12 months ending June will be less than last year’s A$83 million ($82 million), the Brisbane-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Virgin is taking on Qantas Airways Ltd.’s 65 percent share of Australia’s domestic market, rolling out business class services while risking lower ticket prices by adding flights in tandem with the larger carrier. It’s also taking control of Tiger Airways Ltd.’s Australian budget airline and rural service Skywest Airlines Ltd. using cash provided by Singapore Airlines Ltd. to build half of its 20 percent stake in Virgin.

There had been a “slower than anticipated improvement in trading and economic conditions” and no further profit forecast was possible, Virgin said in its regulatory statement released after the close of the market yesterday.

The cheapest discount air fares slumped to their lowest in a year and business class tickets dropped to a three-month low in May, according to government figures released today.

Growth in Virgin’s flight capacity would be about 4 percent in the six months ending June, compared to a previous forecast of 5 percent to 7 percent, the carrier said.

Virgin hasn’t previously forecast earnings for this year. It was expected to earn A$61 million before tax during the period, based on the mean of 11 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, with net income of A$43 million based on the average of nine estimates.

The airline’s 2.4 percent advance in Sydney trading this year has lagged behind the 12 percent climb for the broader S&P/ASX 200 index.

Editors: Aaron Clark, Frank Longid. To contact the reporter on this story: David Fickling in Sydney at dfickling@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net.

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Shanghai Pengxin chairman Jiang Zhoabai floated the prospect while visiting New Zealand and plans to talk to the Government about it…Jiang notes that New Zealand’s immigration requirements might need to be changed to accommodate larger numbers of Chinese needed to service the projected big influx of tourist visitors from China.

Chinese appetite: “There is an appetite to live in New Zealand and a growing group of affluent Chinese are looking to invest here in advance of moving to NZ…Pollution in China is very serious. They like to bring their children here to live, in addition they can invest here and live in New Zealand and they are happy to do so.”

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Along Maui, Hawaii's Hana Highway there are countless picturesque spots, including a string of pools and waterfalls that are easily accessed for swimming, cliff jumping, and people-watching, on the Pipiwai Trail. Tor Johnson / Hawaii Tourism Authority/MCT

A drop in the value of the yen could be bad news for Hawaii’s tourism industry.

That’s because the yen is weakening as the dollar is strengthening.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that on Thursday the dollar traded above 100 yen for the first time since April 2009. Japan Airlines says the drop in the yen’s value may have contributed to a 2.9 percent decline in Japanese visitors to Hawaii during the Golden Week string of national holidays from April 26 to May 6.

Information from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, http://www.staradvertiser.com

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Workers in Fiji are targeting tourists with a campaign that aims to debunk the idea that the country is a tropical paradise.

The website www.destinationfiji.org accuses authorities on the island of violating the human rights of Fijian dissidents.

“About the campaign thought Fiji was paradise? Think again,” it says. “Since a military dictatorship led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power of the South Pacific island nation in 2006, human and workers’ rights have been under attack.

“Over 60 per cent of Fijian wage earners now live below the poverty line, many workers earn less than $3 an hour, and those speaking out against the regime are threatened and assaulted.”

It was set up by the International Trade Union Confederation, with cooperation from unions in Australia and New Zealand, the largest source of foreign visitors to the island.

The website has been condemned by Fiji’s military government, with Tourism Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum accusing the union of undermining the country’s most valuable industry, and therefore putting at risk the jobs of workers it is supposed to be protecting.

“This is a campaign of a handful of Fijian trade unionists with the assistance of their Australian and New Zealand mates to undermine the Fijian economy, create job loss and punish the livelihoods of ordinary Fijian workers,” he told the news website Fijilive. “All in an attempt to bolster their own position.”

Felix Anthony, Fiji Trade Union Congress general secretary, argued that the campaign did not seek to discourage tourists from visiting but aimed to educate them about what was happening away from their luxury holiday resorts.

He added that the government, which has promised to hold elections next year for the first time since the coup, still ruled by decree and had curtailed the rights of union members.

The row bears similarities to the situation in the Maldives – another destination known as a tropical holiday paradise, but where the treatment of dissidents has come under scrutiny.

In March a pamphlet entitled “Cloudy Side of Life” – a play on the Maldivian tourist board’s official slogan “Sunny Side of Life” – was handed out at a travel trade show in Berlin, drawing attention to police brutality and human rights abuses, allegedly sanctioned by the country’s current government.

“White sandy beaches, dancing palm trees and sparkling cocktails beckon the eager tourist to the Maldives,” it read. “However, a few miles away from your secluded resort island, the same government, backed by the same resort-owners who wave over the honeymooners to the sunny side of life, with their other hand, imposes great injustices, brutality, and human rights abuses on us, the citizens.”

A petition urging a tourist boycott of the Maldives, launched after a 15-year-old rape victim in the country was sentenced to 100 lashes for premarital sex, has so far received the backing of more than two million people.

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The arrivals concourse is crowded at Sydney Airport. Bentley Smith / Flickr

Six of Australia’s 22 airports might be ranked in the world’s top 100, but according to the leading Australian consumer and competition watchdog, none can be rated as “good.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has delivered a damning report card that will either ring true or shock the tens of million of people who transit through the country’s airports every year.

Though aircraft congestion and the delays it causes is the biggest complaint of most flyers, it’s not the only one. The high cost of parking at Australia’s airports came in for special mention. The ACCC report also slammed the nation’s airports for poor service even as they continue to be profitable.

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Tandem skydiving in action in New Zealand. Heath Powell / Flickr

The parents of four tourists who died in a 2010 plane crash have written to New Zealand’s Prime Minister urging him to improve safety measures for adventure sports in the country.

Prime Minister John Key’s office confirmed Monday that the families wrote following the release of a coroner’s report into the skydiving plane crash that killed nine people. The families from England, Ireland, Germany and Australia said New Zealand needs to take action to assure tourists it’s a safe place.

Key’s office had no immediate response. Last year, spokesman Kevin Taylor said “visitors to New Zealand can be assured that we take safety extremely seriously.”

Coroner Richard McElrea’s report concluded the small Walter Fletcher plane operated by Skydive New Zealand was overloaded and the weight incorrectly balanced when it crashed soon after takeoff near Fox Glacier. McElrea found there was likely another factor such as pilot error which contributed to the crash, adding the exact cause may never be known.

The coroner recommended the industry urgently review making it mandatory for skydivers to wear safety belts on takeoff and that small planes like the Walter Fletcher be restricted to six passengers.

The families said they lack confidence in the ability of New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority to regulate safety aboard small planes and they believe the country needs to introduce new laws to allow bad operators to be sued for negligence, something which is difficult or impossible under existing laws.

“We know you are aware of the indescribable grief and anguish the loss of our loved ones has caused us,” the families wrote. “It is only now that we have all been able to come together in this way.”

Adventure-tourism plays a significant role in New Zealand’s economy. About 2.6 million tourists visit each year, according to government statistics, with about one-third participating in sports such as bungy jumping, skydiving or jet-boating.

Opposition lawmaker Andrew Little said the country needs a more robust culture of risk assessment.

“The families are correct when they say New Zealand is too blasé about health and safety, and this accident was yet another wake-up call to do better,” Little wrote in a release Monday.

The tourists who died were Glenn Bourke, of Australia; Patrick Byrne, of Ireland; Bradley Coker, of England; and Annika Kirsten, of Germany. The others who died were New Zealand pilot Chaminda Senadhira and tandem skydiving instructors Michael Suter, Rodney Miller, Christopher McDonald and Adam Bennett.

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It’s a market with an impressive annual 12 percent growth and one that by 2020 is expected to contribute up to 9 billion dollars U.S. dollars annually to the Australian economy.

Tourism Australia and State tourism partners like Destination New South Wales (DNSW) entered into a cooperative marketing deal in 2012 that will see more than 9 million A.U. dollars invested in 2013 with China’s largest and fastest growing international airline, China Southern Airlines.

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The Kaua'i cliffs look over pristine ocean in Hawaii. / Hawaii Tourism Agency/MCT

The number of visitors coming to Hawaii in the first three months of the year surged 7.1 percent to 2.1 million, but tourism officials said Thursday the industry’s growth will likely slow later in 2013.

Nearly 10 percent more travelers arrived in the islands from western U.S. states compared with January through March of last year, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said. The number of travelers from Japan climbed 5 percent.

Mike McCartney, the state tourism agency’s CEO, said he expects to see more moderate growth in coming months.

“Spending and arrivals have been on the upswing, but there has been a decrease in visitor average length of stay for markets like U.S. West and Canada, which could be an indication that visitors may be reaching their spending threshold,” McCartney said in a statement.

A reduction in the number of direct flights from the East Coast and a weakening Japanese yen may also slow growth, he said.

The agency plans to continue luring business travelers for meetings and encouraging visitors to travel to the neighbor islands. It intends to continue supporting the addition of direct flights to Hawaii from South Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand while maintaining marketing efforts in the U.S. mainland, Canada and Japan.

“Due to the fragile nature of the tourism economy, the HTA understands the importance of sustaining and diversifying global market share in an industry based on discretionary spending,” McCartney said.

Visitors spent $3.9 billion in the state from January through March, up 7.6 percent from the same quarter last year. The biggest increase came from western U.S. travelers, who spent 18.7 percent more, and eastern U.S. visitors, who spent 8.3 percent more.

Tourism arrivals hit a record 8 million last year as a recovering global economy, strong yen, stable oil prices and the addition of more direct flights encouraged more people to visit the islands.

The previous record of 7.6 million was reached in 2006, before the Great Recession.

The tourism agency said last month it expects 8.5 million people will visit Hawaii this year.

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