Hawaii’s Next Tourism Markets

For those of us who do business with tourists, 2008 has already been one of the most challenging years on record. U.S. mainland arrivals have fallen, mainly because of the closing of Aloha and ATA Airlines, and Japanese arrivals are also down. So, who is coming to Hawai‘i? And how do you reach them with your marketing efforts?

CANADA

Tourism from Canada is Hawai‘i’s fastest growing visitor market. In 2007, 288,000 visitors traveled to Hawai‘i from Canada. Canadian travelers are older than the industry average, their wedding/honeymoon market is minimal, and they tend to be repeat visitors. Unfortunately, most people in the tourism retail industry (non-hotel) will tell you that Canadians spend significantly less than any other visitor (see table inset). When marketing to Canadians, no large adjustments are needed if you are marketing to U.S. mainland visitors. Canadians obtain their travel information the same way U.S. mainland visitors do (primarily through free magazines in Waikiki and in-hotel room television).

AUSTRALIA

This is a market that has been growing very quickly since the addition of Qantas’ Jetstar Airlines in 2006 and the increase in available flights from Hawaiian Airlines. Australian travelers tend to be younger than the industry average and book their vacations primarily through tour agents. More than 130,000 Australians visit Hawai‘i each year. Educating the travel trade industry in Australia about your business should be your focus.

SOUTH KOREA

Ready, set, go – this is the market that you should start looking into. On January 1, 2009, getting a visa to visit Hawai‘i from South Korea will be much easier. Right now, about 38,000 Koreans travel to Hawai‘i, but this number could double in one or two years. New Hawai‘i information Web sites and travel publications (the first free Korean-language magazine in Waikiki was launched earlier this year) are current options for marketing to these visitors. CHINA Time is on your side for this market. The Chinese travel market has the potential to be as big as the Japanese market for Hawai‘i, but the turn around is still years away. About 50,000 Chinese visit Hawai‘i each year, but a large majority of them are en route to the U.S. mainland and don’t stay here very long. Instead of focusing on marketing, I’d recommend learning Chinese customs and even the language (focus on Mandarin). This market will be huge for Hawai‘i, but you have a few years to get ready for it. EUROPE The bulk of the arrivals from Europe comes from primarily two countries, the United Kingdom (52,000 arrivals) and Germany (24,000 arrivals). Try contacting Hawai‘i Tourism Europe for marketing opportunities. What is exciting about these emerging tourism markets is that they will continue to grow in the number of arrivals per year. It’s a great time to be in Hawai‘i’s tourism industry as we expand beyond the U.S. mainland and Japan and greet our new international arrivals. But don’t give up on Hawai‘i’s two major markets yet; they still account for more than 85 percent of the arrivals to Hawai‘i. The Japanese and U.S. mainland visitors will always be your primary customers, but it’s great to see the new ones come in. Source: Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism – Research and Economic Analysis Division, 2007 End of Year Data

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Archives - Jul-Sep 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.