Reach out and
call a tourist

Campaign gives away free
mainland calls to attract
family, friends

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Go to an American Savings Bank branch, pick up a free Verizon telephone calling card good for five minutes worth of talking to your friends and family on the mainland and say, "Now is a good time to come to Hawaii." Then direct your friends to a Web site called www.friendsinhawaii.com filled with deals aimed at reversing Hawaii's latest tourism downturn.

That's the theme of a program launched by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and Mayors James "Kimo" Apana of Maui, Maryanne Kusaka of Kauai and Harry Kim of Hawaii.

At a news conference at City Hall yesterday, attended by tourism industry leaders, Harris said all the mayors and leaders of the tourist industry have joined hands in the program. Media such as the Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser and many broadcast stations have donated advertising space to kick off the program, built around the new Web site.

"We believe that if all of us join together and reach out to friends and family on the mainland" that can help turn around the downturn in Hawaii tourism that started with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Harris said.

"There are 386,000 households in our state," Kusaka said. Their contacts outside Hawaii can be a huge potential market, she said.

Maui Mayor Apana said the program makes all Hawaii residents "ambassadors of Hawaii."

Not everyone has access to the Internet, he said. If not, call a travel agent and ask about the "Friends in Hawaii deals," he said.

Harris said that in addition to several full-page advertisements donated by Honolulu's two daily newspapers and space in other papers across the state, 60-second radio spots have been donated by 43 Hawaii radio stations.

The result is "over $300,000 of basically free advertising over a two-and-a-half week period," Harris said.

"There are all kinds of tremendous travel bargains on the Web site," Harris said.

American Savings, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., will give out 20,000 five-minute Verizon calling cards starting tomorrow. There will be another 20,000 issued Nov. 7, said Constance Lau, American Savings president.

Harris said the key is to keep an eye on the Web site, which will have more and more deals down the line.