Chinese tourists

Chinese tourists had originally been able to stay in the CNMI for up to 45 days.

However, Governor Ralph Torres made a call to cut their stay to address the issues of 'birth tourism' and overstaying.

US Customs and Border Protection have made the changes, which will come into effect on Thursday.

'Birth tourism' is used to describe the practice of travelling to another country for the purpose of giving birth to obtain citizenship.

PTI China’s Beijing based Tourism Manager Vivienne Song organised an itinerary for the film crew that has included Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Samoa, supported by the National Tourism Organisations in each country.

Travelling with the film crew is Arthur Chance, the famous world traveller TV host with more than one million followers on China’s social media platform Weibo (China’s equivalent to Twitter).

His Royal Highness personally welcomed the visitors at the wharf and wished them Happy New Year in Chinese.

Local friends welcomed the Chinese tourists with passionate traditional dances and the Police Brass Band also played welcome music for the group last Friday.

His Excellency Huang Huaguang, the Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Tonga accompanied HRH Prince Ulukalala during the tour of the ship and attended the welcome ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Tourism of Tonga.

A clothes donation was also held during the ceremony.