Hawaii businesses are "not willing to lean toward us. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the vast potential it offers to the (tourism) market," said John D'Alessandro, president of the Key West, Fla.-based International Gay Travel Association.
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau's approach toward same-sex marriage and its potential impact on tourism so far has been noncommittal.
"It's really too soon to tell," said Roberta Rinker-Ludloff, vice president of marketing. "We're reading the same things as other people are reading and that (an increase) may be offset by people who do not chose to come to Hawaii as a result of that. The bureau doesn't have any statement on this. It's a legislative issue. There may be an increase for some people who want to come and get married."
According to some industry estimates, gay and lesbians spend $17 billion annually on travel.
"First of all, Hawaii I don't think has a clue as compared to most other destinations how much dollars are there," in gay travel, D'Alessandro said. "The objective for those service providers is to get as large a share of the cream-puff market they can. With no children and the time to travel, it makes (gays) a phenomenal market."
Hawaii already is a favored destination for gay and lesbian travelers. Legalization of same-sex marriage would raise its popularity among them, he said.
Being labeled a popular gay destination doesn't worry industry officials in a state visited by an estimated 6.85 million people in 1996, a 3.5 percent increase from 1995.
"We aren't concerned about that at this point in time," Rinker-Ludloff said. "Look at San Francisco. They're known as a gay-friendly city, it hasn't hurt them. We don't discriminate."
Recognizing the importance of travel originating from the West Coast, the bureau in September opened an administrative office in San Francisco to aid travel trade and tour operators, she said.
But what's been clearly understood on the mainland has yet to sink in for Hawaii's travel industry, D'Alessandro claims.
"In the last two years most all major airlines have joined IGTA. It indicates their awareness of gay and lesbians" as a lucrative market, he said. The association, founded in 1983, has more than 1,200 members from travel agencies to major airlines.
Hawaii risks losing tourism dollars to Europe, Palm Springs, Sydney and South Beach, Fla., destinations that heavily target the gay community, D'Alessandro said. "They risk deterioration of their business."
Some mainstream businesses working in Hawaii, however, have acknowledged the financial benefits from the gay community.
Pleasant Holidays, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based tour operator, joined the IGTA about 1-1/2 years ago.
"We realize the significance of the market," said Tony Whittle, vice president of product management and marketing. "We'd like people to travel with us and we're positioning ourselves as a gay-friendly operator."
Though target-marketing the gay population isn't in its plans for the fiscal 1997-98, the HVCB is flexible, Rinker-Ludloff said. For now, "our goal is to keep a very generic message that'll appeal to anybody," she said.
More businesses, it appears, are taking a similar approach.
"There's a trend in the travel industry," said Rob Solomon, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Outrigger Hotels. "You can call it niche marketing. To us (marketing to gays) is no different than (marketing to) seniors.
"We're the largest hotel company in Hawaii. We have a very diverse customer base. It (gays) is just another market for us."