HVCB hopes
to find love with
national promotions
The $150,000 program
targets the honeymoon and
destination wedding marketHTA marketing pact up for bid
By Heather Tang
Star-BulletinJust $150,000 could help Hawaii cash in on the $5.3 billion-a-year U.S. honeymoon market, say tourism and state officials.
A program targeting the bridal romance sector was recently launched by the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, including extensive national advertising and promotions. HVCB will provide $150,000 for the project, or 2.2 percent of its $6.9 million total North America advertising budget. Private donations and promotional benefits, however, are valued at more than $1.3 million, according to Gail Harding, HVCB director of advertising.
The program, unveiled yesterday at Washington Place by Gov. Ben Cayetano, tourism officials and representatives of Modern Bride magazine, includes the distribution of 75,000 inserts and advertising spreads in Modern Bride, participation in national bridal expos, and promotions in mainland department stores.
Officials at yesterday's luncheon stressed that the destination wedding and honeymoon market is lucrative on its own but also often leads to return visits.
"These couples become branded to their honeymoon destination. They want to come back to re-live the romance, come back with their children," said Ilene Rapkin, publisher of Modern Bride. "If you can gain the honeymooner, you're likely to keep them for the future to visit all of the islands."
The year-round honeymoon market is "expandable and recession-proof. No matter how bad the economy is, people rarely cancel their honeymoon unless they cancel their wedding," said Rapkin. "The amount of money in the industry is daunting, it can add so much to tourism revenue."
She said those who honeymoon in Hawaii typically spend four times more than the average honeymooner and tend to be more affluent, with an average combined annual income of about $67,000.
In fiscal 1999, the wedding and honeymoon market generated $891 million in spending in the islands, roughly 8 percent of Hawaii's estimated $10 billion to $11 billion in annual tourism revenue, according to figures released yesterday in the 1999 Modern Bride Honeymoon Report.
But, for the first time in nearly three decades, Hawaii's honeymoon market share fell, according to the magazine.
Although Hawaii remains the No. 1 offshore honeymoon destination market, its share of the annual U.S. honeymoon market fell 2.3 percentage points to 11.6 percent last year, a loss amounting to about $169 million in tourist spending, according to the magazine.
On the positive side, the state remains the No.1 offshore destination wedding location; its market share has risen 300 percent since 1992, hosting about 20 percent of all offshore destination wedding locations worldwide, a magazine representative said.
From July 1998 through June, 15,000 U.S. couples were married in Hawaii, each bringing an average of 17 guests with them, generating about $352 million in spending, according to Modern Bride estimates. Modern Bride's Honeymoon Market Report is based on a mailed survey conducted over a full year, once every four years. Data is based on the 2,845 questionnaire responses of Modern Bride readers.
In conjunction with Modern Bride, HVCB plans to distribute 500 certificates signed by Gov. Cayetano to mainland couples who will wed or honeymoon in Hawaii this year. The program is designed to lure couples back to the islands.
"This is just an ongoing effort to capture a more aggressive and continuous market share of the U.S. bridal romance sector," said Tony Vericella, HVCB president and chief executive.
"Receiving wedding renewals can help us get continuous, consistent growth from the U.S. market. This is money we can get all year; it's terrific for us, it can help us fill our lower, shorter periods," said Vericella.
At yesterday's Washington Place luncheon, newlyweds Ted and Emily Taylor of Pittsburgh were the first couple to receive the certificate.
"Programs like this help us get the word out . . . we need to pay attention to niche markets (that) we haven't spent as much time on in the past," said Cayetano.
Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau
