Global tourism experts
to hold isle conference

Star-Bulletin staff

International tourism experts will be in Honolulu next week to share their knowledge with Hawaii's visitor industry in a two-day conference that will emphasize changes in Asia and the Pacific.

The Tourism Strategic Forum, to be held Oct. 15-16 and sponsored by the School of Travel Industry Management at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, will explore options for Hawaii's future and ways in which the visitor industry might reposition itself, said Chuck Gee, the school's dean.

"The steady decline in visitor days and expenditures since 1991, increasing competition from other travel destinations and the advent of the Asian economic crisis have focused attention on initiatives to see new market niches, product and service alternatives," Gee said.

The forum, to be held at Hilton Hawaiian Village, will bring decision-makers in Hawaii's private and public sectors in contact with the international experts, Gee said.

Overseas speakers will include market analysts and tourism authority officials from Singapore, Thailand, Australia and elsewhere who know the latest trends in the Asia-Pacific, as well as where Europeans are going and why.

U.S. experts on international travel trends also will take part.

There is still room for more local attendees, the TIM school said. The fee is $150.

For reservations or more information, call 956-8204.