Isle attractions’
repeat business
falling short,
survey shows

Tourists from the mainland are
seen less likely to revisit a site

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A survey by Hawaii market research experts confirms a long-held tourism industry belief: return visitors from the mainland are much less likely to go to major attractions than they were on their first visit.

The survey, conducted by Market Trends Pacific Inc. and analyzed by John M. Knox & Associates, also confirms the Polynesian Cultural Center's long-held contention that it is the leader among all isle tourist attractions.

The admission-charging facility in Laie attracted 32 percent of the tourists surveyed. That's greater audience than the free Hanauma Bay (30 percent) and the for-fee Pearl Harbor-Arizona Memorial tours (28 percent).

Listing 17 commercial attractions, such as the PCC and Pearl Harbor, the Waikiki Trolley, the Paradise Cove Luau and the Bishop Museum as well as six free attractions, the surveyors asked U.S. tourists how many times they had been to the islands before and where they had gone.

Eighty percent of first-time visitors said they went to at least one of the commercial attractions. Among those who had been to the islands at least once before, 64 percent said they went to at least one of the commercial attractions on their current trip.

Looking at the noncommercial attractions, the balance was similar but the numbers were smaller. Among first-timers, 67 percent said they went to at least one of the free attractions; among the repeaters, the level dropped to 50 percent.

Combining the survey results for the commercial and noncommercial attractions showed the PCC, Hanauma Bay and the Arizona as clear leaders.

"These were the same top three attractions in our 1998 survey of Oahu visitors," said the report by Wanda Kakugawa, president of Market Trends Pacific, and her team.

This year's survey was taken from 508 North American visitors from February to June, and may not reflect full-year results, the company said.

The PCC overwhelmingly outscored the others in visitor satisfaction, with more than half of those who went there saying it exceeded their expectations. Their expectations may have been high, too, since 24 percent of the visitors to the center at Laie made their bookings before leaving the mainland, the report said.

That's unusual these days, the survey confirmed. The vast majority of tourists make their choices of attractions once they're here and they much prefer to make their own direct bookings than to go through agents or hotel desks.

"In general, the higher the prior expectations, the more likely people are to feel their expectations had been exceeded. Marketing works," the report said.