Obama move called tourism boon

Hawaii’s economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas.

An executive order President Barack Obama signed Thursday marks the first time that the U.S. has rolled out a national travel strategy and is the culmination of more than a year of lobbying by politicians and travel leaders nationwide and in Hawaii.

"The president’s announcement today is a wonderful New Year’s gift to the people of Hawaii," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie. "President Obama clearly understands that improving the visa and foreign visitor processing and travel promotion will spur economic growth. We look forward to experiencing that growth here in Hawaii."

Initiatives Obama outlined could bring 154,000 additional jobs to Hawaii, said Mike McCartney, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and chief executive officer.

Elements in the national plan thought to offer the most benefit to Hawaii include:

» Nominating Taiwan for the visa waiver program.

» Increasing visa processing capacity by 40 percent in China this year and setting a standard that 80 percent of visitors who apply will be interviewed within three weeks.

» Making the Global Entry Program, which expedites pre-approved, low-risk travelers, permanent.

» Encouraging tourists to visit national parks and monuments.

"This is exactly what we asked the U.S. State Department, the White House and the U.S. Commerce Department to do," said Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz.

"We’re thrilled. Not just that they did it, but that they did it so quickly."

Abercrombie’s administration and other Hawaii leaders have long urged the U.S. government to ease restrictions for international travelers. Schatz made a trip to China last year and met with key people during September’s China-U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit on Hawaii island. In October Abercrombie met with Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs Charles Bennett at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to learn about the difficulties that Chinese visitors face in obtaining visas. Abercrombie said he shared those concerns with Obama during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Honolulu Nov. 7-13.

"This is the best possible outcome from our discussions over last year that culminated in APEC," Schatz said.

China, an emerging tourism market, holds unprecedented growth potential for Hawaii’s visitor industry, said the HTA’s McCartney.

Chinese travelers to Hawaii, who averaged $380 in daily purchases through November of last year, are already the top spenders. In part, that’s why the state and members of the visitor industry are going to such lengths to capture a greater share of the market.

Arrivals from China to Hawaii were expected to grow 28 percent this year to 125,394 visitors, McCartney. However, the state could make greater gains once national initiatives begin, he said.

HTA will meet with China Eastern, which launched the first direct scheduled flights between Honolulu and Shanghai last year, and with China Airlines, which used to offer direct service between Taiwan and Hawaii, to discuss expanding service, McCartney said.

"Making it more convenient to come to Hawaii will entice group travel sellers in China to offer more isle products," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii, the chain that hosted Chinese President Ju Jintao during APEC.

The possibility of visa waiver status for Taiwan also creates additional opportunities for Hawaii’s tourism industry, McCartney said.

"Following the Visa Waiver Program with Korea in 2008, arrivals from the region increased 35 percent and have grown year after year. And we would anticipate seeing similar growth out of Taiwan," he said.

Before Korea achieved visa waiver status, arrivals were too small for the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa to measure, but since then they have grown to 4 percent of the hotel’s business, said Hyatt General Manager Jerry Westenhaver.

"The same could happen for Taiwan. When you spread that across all the hotels, you are talking about a huge impact," he said. "The hotel industry as a whole is really excited about these developments."

Enthusiasm among hoteliers and other members of the visitor industry is also high for the Visit USA Act, recently introduced in Congress by U.S. Rep. Maize Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.

The bipartisan legislation, which aims to cut red tape and reform U.S. visa polices, would build on the new strategy Obama outlined, Hirono said Thursday.

"The president’s initiatives and my bipartisan bill in the House and Senate would go a long way toward making us compete more effectively for the Chinese travelers, who want to come to our country," she said.

While 53 million Chinese went on foreign trips in 2010, only 800,000 came to the U.S. and only 62,000 to Hawaii, Hirono said.

Visit USA Act reforms would include allowing Chinese visitors to apply for five-year multiple-entry visitor visas, creating a video conference pilot program to conduct visa interviews for foreign nationals applying for visas, creating a Canadian retiree visa that would last 240 days and allowing important foreign dignitaries, such as Olympic athletes, to be added to the Global Entry Program after a review of their case.

While more still needs to be done to ease the process for Chinese and Taiwanese travelers who want to come to Hawaii, just opening the door wider creates more interest and is a good first step, said Barry Wallace, executive vice president of Hospitality Services for Outrigger Enterprises Group.

"It will be a boon for us all and relatively quickly. The world is a faster place than when we built the Japan market. It won’t take 30 years to build these markets," Wallace said.