Imperial Pacific International has laid off more than 150 workers, most of them card dealers, at its resort casino in the Northern Marianas.
The Hong Kong based company blamed a lack of tourists, especially big spenders, since Saipan and neighboring Tinian were struck by Super Typhoon Yutu last month.
The Saipan international airport has started operating day and night time flights again and welcomed its first commercial flight from Hong Kong last Friday.
But Imperial Pacific said it feared that it would take months before tourists came back in numbers that could sustain its business.
Imperial Pacific chair Mark Brown met with the laid off employees over the weekend, telling them they were welcome to return once the resort was fully operational.
