THE Keeaumoku Street area of Honolulu between Ala Moana Center and King Street is called "Koreamoku" or "Korea Town" by my friends at Maui Divers because of the heavy focus there of businesses, including theirs, that cater to Korean tourists. Maui Divers serves evening buffets for Korean tour groups. It is one of the advocates of visa waivers to attract many more Korean tourists to come to the U.S. Korean tourists are
a growing marketMaui Divers was built on black coral jewelry manufacture and sales. It now has expanded into other retail activity. It deals with customers in its showrooms in six different languages and proudly displays a governor's proclamation declaring black coral the official state gem of Hawaii. It thus has grown into a $25-million-a-year business, one of Hawaii's top 250 firms.
President Robert Taylor and its vice president for Asia marketing, Amy Han, recently told a Pacific and Asian Affairs Council breakfast about the unbelievably tight, busy schedules most Korean visitors to Hawaii follow.
Permission to travel abroad is fairly new to Koreans, so they tend to travel in affinity groups, try to see all they can in a very short time and lean heavily on their tour operators for guidance. Over 40 operators compete for about 128,000 visitors a year but hope to see the number triple as visas are allowed to be waived.
The vacationers plan ahead only a few weeks, hurdle the visa barrier either through their travel agent or by waiting in long lines at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. The daily nonstops from Seoul to Honolulu depart in the early evening but travelers must leave home five or six hours earlier because of Seoul traffic congestion and airport procedures.
After nine hours nonstop it is midmorning in Hawaii when they emerge from U.S. Immigration and Customs to board tour buses to the Pali, Punchbowl and Iolani Palace before lunching in the Keeaumoku Street area.
At lunch they are briefed on travel options such as a one-day round-Oahu tour, and a one-day trip to either Maui or the Big Island. Night-time offers are an offshore dinner cruise or attending the show "Magic of Polynesia."
The travelers then check in at their Waikiki hotels but are out of their rooms by 4:30 p.m. to begin evening activity, which usually wraps up with gift shopping in the Keeaumoku Street area.
The next day's tours demand being up early. A Maui day includes both driving to the top of Haleakala and sightseeing Lahaina.
The Big Island trip focuses around Hilo and Kilauea Volcano. Back in Honolulu the dinner cruise/nightclub show options can be mixed with more shopping and the Korean menu buffet at Maui Divers, where jewelry production is explained and sales rooms offer everything from vitamins (a very popular item) to brand-name luggage, apparel and cosmetics, all cheaper than at home.
The next day is going home, leaving Honolulu Airport around 9 a.m. on either Korean Air or Asiana, both Korean-owned lines.
THEIR basic tour package cost $500 to $600 including air fare, lodging, the arrival city tour and most meals. But the average visitor spends $200 to $250 additional on the special options plus another $200 shopping. Korean spending tends to top Japanese visitor spending at Maui Divers.
As Koreans become more experienced and more comfortable travelers, it is expected they will leave groups and make more independent travel arrangements.
The U.S. Immigration Service has resisted visa waivers because the record shows too many Koreans, students in particular, have been overstayers. A suggested remedy pressed in Congress is to have tour agents post bond, assuring the return of their travelers.
Taylor and Han expect the waivers to be granted eventually. They also are looking ahead to cultivate another and far smaller new niche group of travelers from Asia -- Russians.