Rejected visas keep thousands from Hawaii

Hawaii will host its largest incentive travel group from China next month, but roughly 40 percent of Nu Skin’s top distributors won’t be joining their peers because their visa applications were rejected.

More than 6,000 Nu Skin distributors in China and Hong Kong qualified for the trip, but fewer than 4,000 of them were able to get approved to travel to Hawaii, said Jadie Goo, who was born and raised in China and currently serves as the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s brand manager for China and Taiwan. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser could not reach Nu Skin, a direct-sales company, before deadline because of the time difference between Hawaii and its Provo, Utah, headquarters.

Hawaii and other U.S. destinations hopeful of increasing Chinese tourism have long worked with the U.S. Travel Association to advocate for visa improvements. The issue was top of mind in 2011 when the China U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit was held in Kailua-Kona and Hawaii leaders pushed for changes in the U.S. visa policy. Reductions in visa processing times and the introduction of a longer-term visa and nonstop flights sparked growth for several years, although China has remained a challenging market for Hawaii.

These inroads have been threatened as word has spread about the Nu Skin visa rejections and anxiety over President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban mounts, said Reene Ho-Phang, managing director of Hawaii Tourism China. The ban addresses travelers from specific regions in the Middle East and Africa, but Ho-Phang said it still creates unease for Chinese visitors who fear onerous travel restrictions could worsen. The complexity of the process, which requires Chinese visitors to present up to 11 supporting documents during a scheduled in-person interview with a U.S. consular officer, already has caused some travelers to take prep classes, she said.

While typically 10 to 15 percent of visa applicants for group travel to Hawaii get denied, the rejection rate for Nu Skin was significantly higher, Ho-Phang said.

“We’ve observed that group demand has cascaded a bit. Word has spread in the industry, and it’s impacting other groups. Some are postponing group bookings by a year,” Ho-Phang said.

George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of HTA, said the agency supports the efforts of the state Attorney General to oppose the travel ban and applauds the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson, who blocked the executive order two weeks ago. Still, the U.S. Justice Department filed a notice Thursday to appeal that ruling, which halted key aspects of Trump’s ban.

“Everyone is keenly awaiting a meeting next month between China’s President Xi Jinping and President Trump,” Ho-Phang said.

To Bolster bookings, Hawaii Tourism China and HTA’s Hong Kong representative will launch a group travel sales blitz in the next couple of months. They’ll offer incentives such as free and discounted Hawai‘i Convention Center facility rent for large groups. They will market complimentary rooms for meeting planners, sponsored trips for decision-makers and other freebies.

“We want to counter the various situations that we are facing,” Ho-Phang said. “We are looking for more Hawaii partners to participate.”

That’s because Hawaii loses big when groups cancel.

If all 6,000 plus Nu Skin members had come to Hawaii, HTA estimates it would have pumped $15.9 million in corporate spending into the state and generated $1.9 million in taxes. Instead, Nu Skin sent some 2,000 incentive winners to Bali, Indonesia — reducing the group’s estimated economic impact here to $7.9 million in corporate spending and $928,200 in taxes.

The Nu Skin distributors, who are coming to Hawaii in the middle of next month, account for 6,089 booked room nights at the Sheraton Waikiki and the Moana Surf­rider, said Kelly Sanders, area managing director, Marriott Hotels and Resorts Waikiki.

“This group is probably 60 percent of what we would do in a normal month. It’s a huge base of business,” Sanders said. “But if everyone had been able to come, we wouldn’t have been able to handle all of them, and other hotels would have benefited, too.”

Oahu’s activities and attractions market also is disappointed that customers ended up on Bali, said Toni Marie Davis, executive director of the Activities & Attractions Association of Hawaii Inc.

“Visitors from China spend more each day ($365 per person) than any other group, and many of them are first-time travelers, so they are likely to do more while they are here,” Davis said.

The state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism has forecast that 2017 arrivals from China will increase 2 percent to 173,479, while spending is expected to rise slightly more than 6 percent to $434 million-plus. Hawaii Tourism China’s 2017 target for meetings/conventions and incentive is to fill 15,000 room nights. But visitors from China must get here to realize those expectations.

“We’re all watching to see exactly what happens. We just need to be smart about what we do and what we say to the world, Mr. Trump,” Sanders said.