One of the Northern Marianas' foremost historians says the US military buildup in the CNMI will have a negative impact on the islands' tourism industry.
CNMI historian and former educator Samuel McPhetres says the buildup will especially affect passenger flights to the islands.
He says the Commonwealth is currently experiencing a hotel and resort construction boom and these all have their "pipelines" on tourism-related chartered flights.
Mr McPhetres says the military buildup could be problematic to the tourism industry since military exercises involve "no fly zones" once trainings begin.
He says these "no fly zones" will directly affect regular airlines plying the CNMI, as well as chartered flights.
Based on recent construction figures the number of hotel rooms could soon swell to 10,000.
Pagan Island Photo: Supplied