The Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Japan Association of Travel Agents are committed to returning visitor arrivals from Japan to Hawaii to 2 million per year by 2016.
The push, which will begin next year, is part of a memorandum of understanding signed Thursday by HTA and JATA at the close of the annual Japan-Hawaii Tourism Council Meeting held at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. Reaching the new Japan arrivals goal would pump an estimated $4 billion in annual expenditures and $440 million in state tax revenue into Hawaii’s economy, said HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney. It would also further diversify Hawaii’s visitor economy and bolster important ties, McCartney said.
"This MOU represents more than a business relationship and affecting the bottom line," he said. "The MOU is a natural partnership between the HTA and JATA that reflects and builds upon the historic bond, traditions, cultural heritages and long-term relationship shared between Hawaii and Japan. Working together on this initiative will help to further strengthen our friendship."
While Hawaii has long been a favored destination by visitors from Japan, arrivals from that market to Hawaii peaked at 2.2 million in 1997 and have been declining or flattening out ever since. Economic strife, global health concerns, geopolitical turbulence and natural disasters took their toll. The emergence of newer, cheaper, closer destinations in Asia and a growing sense from Japanese travelers that when it came to Hawaii they had "been there and done that" also contributed to declines.
| PUSHING BACK
2012 GOALS
1.36 million arrivals
$2.49 billion expenditures
2016 GOALS
2 million arrivals
$4 billion expenditures
|
The Japanese visitor market to Hawaii hit a 20-year low of 1.16 million visitors amid the global economic uncertainties of 2009. However, Hawaii’s visitor industry and its Japanese partners have turned the tide and, despite the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident in 2011, have achieved leisure market growth. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of world leaders, held in Hawaii in 2011, also has spurred additional interest from Japan in Hawaii’s meetings, convention and incentive travel market.
This year, visitor arrivals from Japan will likely surpass HTA’s targets of 1.36 million visitors and $2.48 billion in spending, McCartney said. And, there are signs that the market is poised for additional growth, he said.
"The 2016 targets are our most aggressive of any market, but we are confident that we can reach them," McCartney said.
Following the earthquake, the Japanese people’s appreciation for their loved ones grew, and they began to view travel as a needed way to connect with each other and to stimulate their economy, McCartney said. A favorable exchange rate, additional airlift in more markets and the knowledge that many in Hawaii cared for their well-being fueled demand to visit the isles, he added. The recent switch to Japanese marketing contractor a.link LLC also has produced favorable results, McCartney said.
This year, Japan arrivals to Hawaii were up 17 percent to 930,558, and spending had grown by 23.4 percent to $1.6 billion from January to August. Still, in order to reach the goals outlined in the MOU, Hawaii would have to attract roughly 639,000 additional visitors, or about 47 percent more, in 2016 than it was slated to bring this year. At the same time, these Japanese visitors would have to spend $1.6 billion, or approximately 67 percent more than is anticipated for 2012.
"I think they can reach these goals because of the airlift that is coming out of Japan as well as the travel demand and spending patterns that we are seeing," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia.
Together with JATA, HTA will start marketing initiatives geared to stimulating off-season travel and attracting more first-time Japanese visitors to Hawaii.
"While many Japanese have traveled to Hawaii before, there is still a greater majority who have yet to visit the Hawaiian Islands," said Tatsuo Hayashida, director of the board of JATA, which represents more than 1,000 Japanese-based travel agents. "The Hawaii Two Million Visitors Initiative offers an opportunity not only to capture a new market, but also create first-time experiences for repeat travelers outside of Waikiki."
Continued efforts will be made to re-establish Kona as a second international point of entry, McCartney said.
"It was an access point for 14 years, but we lost it two years ago when Japan Airlines was restructuring," he said.
McCartney said Hawaiian Airlines has applied for permission to fly between Japan’s Haneda Airport and Kona, and he is hopeful that JAL’s recovery could prompt it to re-enter Kona.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye also is working with Hawaii to establish pre-clearance access for Japanese visitors so that they can clear U.S. customs and immigration in their own country, which would allow them to fly directly to the neighbor islands, he said.
"This arrangement will further enhance our historic and special partnership and strong cultural ties with Japan by easing travel access for their citizens. Hawaii has long benefited from Japan’s love of our islands and I will continue to work to make it easier for Japanese citizens to visit Hawaii and our great nation," Inouye said in an email.
Hawaii would benefit greatly if visitor traffic from Japan increases on the neighbor islands, Vieira said.
"We don’t have enough inventory in Waikiki on key dates, and we have inventory on the neighbor islands that needs to be filled," he said.
Vieira said the neighbor islands offer tremendous opportunities to increase Japan’s group and leisure business and encourage more of their first-time travelers to visit Hawaii.
"It’s a newer market for them, and they want to be more experiential, " Vieira said. "Going in this direction will bring a lot more long-term balance to the market. It could attract first-time visitors from Japan and help repeat visitors rediscover our islands."
