[ OUR OPINION ]

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Foreign tourism faces
challenge at isle airports

THE ISSUE Visitors from Japan and 26 other countries arriving at the nation's airports will undergo fingerprinting and photographs beginning Thursday.

TOURISM in Hawaii has been surging this year, but the industry is likely to receive a jolt beginning Thursday when visitors arriving from Japan, Australia and New Zealand are required to be photographed and fingerprinted at Honolulu Airport. The requirement has been limited to visa-carrying foreign visitors but will be extended to other foreign visitors. The state has taken measures to lessen the blow, and the program's implementation may reveal other ways to cope with this necessary security measure.

Citizens from Korea and the Philippines, who are required to have U.S. visas to visit America, have been put through the procedure since January. Many of them complained about being delayed as much as three hours, but the process has been made smoother and faster. The procedure will be extended to travelers from 27 countries that haven't had to undergo the screening because they can travel to the United States without visas.

The problems at Honolulu Airport are likely to mount when the number of visitors being photographed and digitally fingerprinted soars sevenfold, from 600 visitors a day to about 4,250. Time spent waiting is expected to increase from the current 45 minutes to an hour or more because of the 60 to 90 seconds taken to put each foreign visitor through the process required by the Department of Homeland Security.

The inconvenience is warranted. Alleged 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui of France and shoe-bomber Richard Reid of Britain were able to board American-bound planes. Briton Yusuf Islam, formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens, boarded a London-to-Washington plane last week although he is on a "no fly" list because his charitable contributions allegedly went to terrorist groups. His plane was diverted to Bangor, Maine, from which he was flown back to England.

Marsha Wienert, Governor Lingle's tourism liaison, says the state is opening two lounges so foreign visitors won't have to stand in line longer than a half hour and will have access to restrooms. She says plans also include staffing all 52 customs entry booths and asking airlines to stagger flights.

Airlines may resist staggered flights. When Japan Airlines offered flights at various times in the past, it lost money "because most Japan travelers want to fly at night so that they gain a day when they arrive in Hawaii," spokesman Gilbert Kimura told the Star-Bulletin's Allison Schaefers.

For consolation, Hawaii's tourism industry should look at Florida, where the requirement will affect 2 million visa-waiver travelers yearly, most from Western Europe, as that state tries to recover from the devastating hurricane season. More than half -- about the same as those arriving at Honolulu Airport -- arrive at Miami Airport.

"If it protects us in any way, I would even be willing to give a saliva test," Viktoria Luning of Germany told the Miami Herald. Hawaii's tourism officials can only hope that eastbound visitors to Hawaii are as understanding.