Show lifts Golden Week travel

Strong demand for Hawaii and a concert by Dreams Come True, a popular Japanese band, have restored some luster to this year’s Golden Week string of Japanese holidays.

Golden Week, which runs through Wednesday, is traditionally a high-volume period for Japanese tourists in Hawaii. It’s usually a robust travel time for Hawaii because the period, which includes four national holidays, forms the longest vacation of the year for many Japanese workers.

But Golden Week’s performance is closely tied to the Japanese economy, prices, yen strength and whether the calendar alignment allows travelers to stretch travel plans. Some years are better than others. This one is so-so with Hawaii hoteliers, wholesalers, airlines and other travel sellers reporting mixed results.

That’s because economic fundamentals and dates aren’t the best. More Japanese travelers also are focused on traveling domestically this year especially since the first holiday, Showa Day, falls on Wednesday with two weekdays before and after.

"We actually thought Golden Week was going to be down about 10 percent from last year," said Eric Takahata, Hawaii Tourism Japan’s managing director. "But, it’s coming in better than we expected so we are forecasting that the drop in visitor arrivals will be less than 5 percent in line with the 4.2 percent year-to-date market decline."

The results are better than predicted since more people are expected to travel in the later half of Golden Week, Saturday to Wednesday, when Constitution Day, Greenery Day and Children’s Day align with Saturday to produce a longer vacation.

Danny Ojiri, vice president of market development for Outrigger Enterprises, said he expects arrivals will peak this weekend.

"Hawaii is fortunate to have a loyal following from Japan during a period when prices are high for this market," Ojiri said.

The yen is down 16 percent from a year ago, making travel in the U.S. more expensive for Japanese visitors.

Some 600 Japanese visitors are expected to attend the Dreams Come True concert at the Disney Aulani Resort and Spa in Ko Olina on Wednesday. The concert is generating buzz since the band celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and main vocalist Miwa Yoshida, who was born on May 6, will celebrate her birthday in Hawaii.

The visitors who paid roughly $3,000 for the exclusive Japan Travel Bureau concert package are expected to stay about 5.64 days and generate $1 million in direct visitor spending, said Tsukasa Harufuku, president and chief executive of JTB Hawaii Inc. The concert and the five-day travel period bolstered JTB Hawaii’s Golden Week by 6 percent, Harufuku said.

"If the concert had been opened up to more than just the band’s fan club in Japan, we think it could have generated lots more visitors from Japan and offset more of the downturn," Takahata said.

But since it didn’t, the holiday lineup and Japanese economy were more of a drag.

"Most people cannot take extra days off with Golden Week holidays," said Dave Erdman, president of PacRim Marketing Group Inc. and its sister firm PRTech LLC.

The weakening yen has played a major role in the drop-off in visitor arrivals year to date and is expected to have a similar impact on Golden Week, said Gregg Yamanaka, chief learning officer of The LearningBiz Group, which conducted a seminar on Tuesday for the Retail Merchants of Hawaii called Get Ready for Golden Week: Customer Service.

"For every $100 a Japanese person spends, they are paying $15 more — that’s the impact of the weakening yen," Yamanaka said. "Wholesalers already are saying Golden Week looks weak."

Yamanaka said economic pressures have made it more important for Hawaii to meet customer service expectations for Japanese visitors, who are typically Hawaii’s least-satisfied visitors. Since kicking off customer service and cultural training classes last year, Yamanaka said Hawaii’s visitor industry has improved with some properties reporting 15 point gains in satisfaction. Still, he said the destination has further to go.

Even so Japan Airlines (JAL) reported last week that its passenger traffic forecast for Hawaii is up 9.1 percent for the nine-day Golden Week period. As of last week the carrier was anticipating 27,347 passenger reservations on planes bound for Hawaii and load factors of 90.2 percent thanks to growing demand between Japan and leisure destinations compared to 2014. While JAL said demand for Hawaii is stronger this Golden Week than last, Japanese visitor traffic to South East Asia, China and the Transpacific was more robust.

Compared to last year, PacRim and PRTech, which handle independent reservations for many hotels in Hawaii, said direct bookings are up 15 percent.

David Nadelman, area vice president and general manager for the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, said intermediaries are stating the period is soft due to how the holiday falls, exchange rates, air pricing and land pricing. However, the hotel has realized strong Golden Week occupancies.

"We are fully complete with our rooms renovation and look forward to this week kicking off a very strong summer for the resort," Nadelman said.

But Erdman said some clients report the visitors who are coming are spending less.

"Some hotels are up, some are not trending as well as last year. It’s mixed and not consistent across the board. What is consistent, is the average daily rate and total revenue at nearly all properties is down for this period," he said.