China company unveils Hawaii tour package

China’s largest travel company has developed a new tour package to Hawaii that is expected to bring thousands of additional visitors from China, who will pump millions into the state’s economy.

China International Travel Service (CITS), in partnership with Hawaiian Airlines and Hilton Hawaii, unveiled on Wednesday, "Next Stop Hawaii, the Most Beautiful Place to Go," the company’s first tour dedicated only to Hawaii.

"Hawaii is something new for the Chinese people," said CITS President Ning-ning Yu. "In the old days, we offered mostly East and West Coast tours and they were ready to go home after that. If we offered Hawaii, we sold it with other destinations."

Members of Hawaii’s visitor industry and business community have been aggressively trying to grow Chinese arrivals since 2007 when the U.S.-China Memorandum of Understanding made leisure travel from China possible. While there was a lot of interest in Hawaii from Chinese tourists in the past, the lack of direct flights between China and Hawaii along with the difficulty attached to obtaining the required visa to enter the U.S. tempered demand. Still, China’s burgeoning outbound travel market and the spending habits of these visitors have made them coveted by destinations around the globe, said Jerry Gibson, Hilton Hawaii’s area vice president.

"With the increase in numbers from China that we have seen so far, there is huge potential for exponential growth in the coming years in both transient and group business," Gibson said.

Though the number of Chinese travelers coming to Hawaii is small, the market is growing and partnerships like the one with CITS will expand it, said David Uchiyama, vice president of brand management for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. In 2011, 81,738 visitors came to Hawaii from China. HTA projects arrivals will rise 39.7 percent this year, he said.

"The per-person, per-day spend of $396 is the highest of any market that we have," Uchiyama said.

HTA expects a 70.6 percent overall spending gain from $178.2 million spent in 2011, which would pump in $304 million to Hawaii, he said.

Greater air choices and an improved visa process prompted CITS to expand its offerings in the Hawaii market, Yu said.

The U.S. Embassy in China has expanded visa-processing capacity this year by opening new facilities and adding 50 new consular officers, said David Murphy, first secretary of the commercial department of the U.S. Embassy China.

"We’ve also launched a pilot program that permits consular officers to waive interviews for travelers who are renewing their visas in the same category within four years," Murphy said. "Since February, this program has opened up 25,000 interview slots."

Also, wait times for a U.S. visa interview have fallen from an average of 30 days last year to 10 days, he said.

Over the past year, Hawaiian Airlines has opened sales offices in Beijing and Shanghai, rescheduled some flights to better serve the Chinese market, established a cooperative ticketing agreement with Air China and most recently launched a Chinese language website, said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s chief commercial officer.

"This new product offers the perfect introduction of Hawaii to visitors from China," Ingram said.

The tours, which target Chinese visitors who are repeat travelers to the United States, are expected to attract great demand, Yu said.

The company already has sold more than 30 group tours, which will bring 700 visitors to Hawaii, she said. An incentive tour of 1,500 is set for January and CITS will promote Hawaii as a featured destination for Chinese New Year, potentially bringing 1,000 visitors to the isles in February, Yu said.

By the end of 2012, the Hawaii itinerary will bring more than 2,600 visitors to Hawaii and generate $4 million in revenue, said David Sun, Travel Trade Director of Hawaii Tourism China.