Japanese travel firm to launch electric tour buses in Hawaii

JTB Hawaii Inc., the first Japanese travel company to establish a presence in the isles, plans to invest nearly $13 million in the Hawaii market over the next year or so.

JTB is spending $4.8 million to debut three electric tour buses in Hawaii as part of the company’s commitment to Gov. David Ige’s energy reduction goals. The buses, which will be the first of their kind in Hawaii, will be introduced into service as HiBus in April taking passengers between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu.

The company, which opened its first Honolulu office in 1964, is making this change as visitor numbers from Japan to Hawaii are down. In April, JTB also plans to launch a yearlong $8 million global destination campaign focusing on all of the Hawaiian Islands. These latest JTB investments will build on the company’s efforts to diversify its market beyond Japan with the 2016 acquisition of MC&A Inc., the state’s largest destination and event management company. JTB is also geared to helping Hawaii return Japan, its top international market, back to its former strength.

In 1997, the peak year for Japanese visitors to Hawaii, the state welcomed 2.2 million tourists from Japan. In 2016 that number was just under 1.6 million. JTB, which typically has about a 25 percent share of Hawaii’s Japan market, brought 390,000 of these visitors in 2017. However, JTB is forecasting that its count this year will fall to about 377,000.

That’s because the visitor industry statewide in 2018 has struggled with the Japan visitor market. First, there was the four-month eruption of Kilauea, which temporarily closed much of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Then came Hurricanes Lane and Olivia in Hawaii. Typhoon Jebi, which struck Japan on Sept. 4, also caused flight cancellations and closed Kansai International Airport for almost two weeks.

September was another lackluster month for Hawaii’s Japan visitor market. The number of airline seats from Japan to Hawaii rose nearly 10 percent from September 2017, but arrivals during the same period dropped by 4 percent to 131,920, according to recent statistics from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Hawaii island took the biggest monthly hit with a nearly 30 percent drop in visitation from Japan.

Eric Takahata, Hawaii Tourism Japan managing director, said the agency is in the third phase of its Hawaii island recovery plan, which focuses on co-op initiatives with travel agencies and airlines.

“Currently, the numbers show drops from Japan to Hawaii island. Hawaiian Airlines is experiencing slightly lower loads, and JAL’s loads are lower than Hawaiian Airlines’ loads,” Takahata said.

Through the first nine months of the year, visitor arrivals from Japan fell nearly 2 percent to nearly 1.2 million.

“The Japan industry expects numbers to be slightly down from 2017, but they do expect to rebound by summer,” Takahata said.

JTB hopes its new marketing campaign, which will run through March 2020, will help the company realize a 20 percent increase in travel to Hawaii from the Japan market and others, said Tsukasa Harufuku, JTB president and CEO.

Harufuku said that the company achieved that during previous campaigns targeting Singapore and Australia, and, after all, “Hawaii is still the No. 1 important destination for Japanese tourists.”

Yujiro Kuwabara, president of Travel Plaza Transportation LLC, one of JTB’s five subsidiaries, said HiBus will roll out in time for the campaign. He predicts HiBus will be a draw for Japanese visitors, especially younger ones who are increasingly focused on the environment.

“Environmental sustainability is a significant subject for Hawaii’s tourism industry. We determined that there was no future for Hawaii’s tourism industry or our operations without aggressively confronting this issue,” Harufuku said.

Kuwabara said JTB provides about 7,000 rides a day in Hawaii on its 46 motor coaches and 17 “whale” buses, vehicles painted with a whale design. At first the HiBus program will replace just three whale buses, but JTB will swap out more of its fleet in the future.

“This is a test case to consider going to all-clean-energy buses in the future. We plan to eventually expand on Oahu and then to the neighbor islands,” he said.

Danny Ojiri, vice president of market development for Outrigger Enterprises Group, said “JTB is aware of the importance of awareness of sustainable tourism and to support the communities in which they do business throughout the world. The investment with the electric buses and other events they support, such as the Honolulu Festival Foundation, is evidence of this.”

Ojiri said JTB’s launch is timed to capitalize on Kona’s post-eruption recovery effort, the added lift from low-cost carriers out of Osaka and All Nippon Airways’ new A380 service, which features planes that seat more than 500 passengers.

“JTB is the No. 1 travel agency in Japan. We are just one of many destinations JTB markets throughout the world. Their commitment to focus on Hawaii in 2019 is huge,” he said.

Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said JTB’s investment should bolster the Japan market significantly, especially for Hawaii island, which has been posting poor numbers, in part because of strong declines from Japan.

“JTB is the market leader. Whatever they do, others will have to follow as they don’t want to lose share. Their $8 million campaign could be very helpful,” Vieira said.

Duke Ah Moo, vice president and commercial director for Hilton Hotels in Hawaii, said commitment from JTB, which is one of the largest travel companies to Hawaii, is critical to the success of the islands’ tourism industry.

“I have no doubt that JTB’s significant investment and focus will help stimulate demand for travel to Hawaii from Japan and around the world,” Ah Moo said.