Happy Children in Paradise, a promotional campaign by the Marianas Visitors Authority providing Saipan-da backpacks to visiting children 12 years old or younger as a souvenir, launched on July 1. MVA expects to give away approximately 16,000 backpacks during the summer campaign, which ends on Sept. 30. Visitors will receive a coupon for the souvenir at one of 15 participating hotels and can redeem the coupon at the T Galleria Saipan-da corner, where they will have the opportunity to meet and take pictures with the island’s Saipan-da mascot. A second campaign is planned for the holiday season. Now celebrating its 18th anniversary, the campaign originated in 2000 as a promotional tool for the then-predominantly Japanese market.

Free Saipan-da backpacks distributed to children visiting the Northern Mariana Islands creates a family-friendly image and entices visitors to return.

Photo courtesy of Marianas Visitors Authority