BUILDING the economic and cultural potential of downtown Hagåtña emerged as key topics in the presentation of results of the Hagåtña Revitalization Study and Heritage Tourism Planning for Downtown Hagåtña held at the Center Court of the Agana Shopping Center yesterday.

According to the study, a number of survey questions were “designed to gain insights from the island community to guide future strategies and efforts toward revitalizing downtown Hagåtña.”

In addition, a set of questions also assessed stakeholder priorities in terms of possible alternative development options. The results showed that respondents ranked “developing cultural sites (to showcase the island culture)” at the top, followed by “developing economic centers (to stimulate economy).”

“Developing residential centers” was the least priority, based on results.

In terms of specific options in downtown Hagåtña, survey respondents saw having a museum as the most desirable or most needed, followed by a cultural center and a convention center.

“Hagåtña is the smallest population of around 1,000 people – it’s the smallest village that we have. Our results also show that most people don’t think of Hagåtña for residential purposes. Most of them are looking for economic activity, facilities for economic and cultural activity,” explained Dr. Claret Ruane of the University of Guam School of Business and Public Administration, one of the presenters yesterday.

Tourism angle

She further stated: “We are proud to showcase our culture, we are proud to show it to each other but this could be a tourism angle. I think you have to look around and ask – what’s the wealth of Hagåtña? There are a lot of cultural sites and historical sites as well as opportunities for it to become an economic center.”

If placed on a larger context, Ruane said, the objective is not just to revitalize the Hagåtña area, but also to move the Guam economy forward.

“How do we do this? As an economist, I always think of the island as split into three ways – there’s the tourism aspect, there’s the military aspect, and then there is the local economy,” Ruane said.

The first two aspects are unstable, according to Ruane, so a strengthening of local efforts should also occur.

“Everything’s coming together like the Buy Local stuff. Let’s use our resources, let's support our resources. At the end of the day, when that happens, you were part of this, this belongs to the island. This is the whole idea of ownership,” she added.

Heritage tourism

Department of Chamorro Affairs President Joseph Artero-Cameron said the results of the survey allowed the community to look at different perspectives and also leaves a lot of interesting questions to the policy makers.

He said the results of the survey mirrored the vision of the administration and the Hagåtña Restoration and Redevelopment Board about the opportunity of building upon the concept of heritage tourism in the heart of the capital.

“One of the things that we noticed in the findings of the survey was that they do want to see a cultural center in Hagåtña – which is the Guam and Chamorro Educational Facility – the cultural center that will be opened in December 2014,” Artero-Cameron said.

“A lot of people are not aware that when we talk about a museum, it also has opportunities for community spaces for the arts and exhibits. It tells the Chamorro story, it tells the story of the people living in Guam. It gives an opportunity for a cultural center, for an amphitheater, archives, library ... there are so many different components of the Guam and Chamorro Educational Facility,” he stressed.