China visa hang-ups
cancel isle conventionThe loss of the August event
costs the state millions
in revenue
You know that idea about China being the next great tourism market for Hawaii?
Well, hold that thought.
The Fifth World Chinese Life Insurance Congress, which was expected to bring 3,200 people to Honolulu for a week-long August convention, has notified the state it is canceling its event at the Hawai'i Convention Center because of visa problems.
It will be a costly no-show for the state's economy. The insurance providers and sales representatives were expected to produce $17.34 million in visitor spending and $1.41 million in state taxes, as well as provide hotels with 6,500 room nights.
"This was really our kickoff opportunity," said Joe Davis, general manager of SMG Hawaii, which operates the convention center. "This event was drawing not just from mainland China, but also from Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia -- really Southeast Asia in general."
The visa hang-up, according to state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert, was caused by the demographics of the prospective attendees and the visa process itself.
"They are within that age category and status that are deemed to be potential flight risks -- single, male, between the 25-to-35 age bracket," Wienert said. "There was concern about them not returning."
The visa process also is more cumbersome than it used to be with prospective travelers now required to submit an application and undergo an interview. Before Sept. 11, 2001, all travelers had to do was submit an application to the embassy and wait for an answer on their visa request.
"The process has doubled," Wienert acknowledged. "When you put both factors together, that's what really was the concern. It was going to take a long time for them to get visas, plus they're in the demographics that are questionable."
Davis said event planners likely pulled the plug on the event because the projected attendance was uncertain and visa requests were rejected or delayed. This was despite how the state and SMG Hawaii sent representatives to Beijing earlier to talk to U.S. Embassy officials about how to facilitate the approval process. The state was notified of the cancellation less than two weeks ago, Davis said.
"It's really too bad for the state, but we'll have other opportunities and I know the state is working hard on this," he said.
Wienert, who said she is hopeful the Chinese group might consider booking its biennial event here again in 2006, said the state is working with the federal government to facilitate the visa process.
"We're working on the procedural processing time at the embassies and trying to add the kind of resources needed to process the visa applications in a timely manner," Wienert said.
Wienert said another part of the processing problem is that in many countries the visa application process has been consolidated into one or two embassies for security and control measures.
"So now the workload has increased at those embassies," Wienert said.
Twenty-seven countries currently participate in a visa-waiver program that enables their citizens to enter the United States for tourism or business for 90 days. Japanese tourists, who are not required to have a visa to enter Hawaii, made up 20.9 percent of the state's total visitor arrivals in 2003.
Wienert said a Hawaii-only visa, which the state had as a promotional initiative for a short period of time before 9/11, is no longer viable.
"We've been told at the outset by the Department of Homeland Security that a Hawaii-only vista is not an opportunity and that we shouldn't waste a lot of time on it," she said.
In the meantime, Davis said that August is a busy convention month, and he is hopeful prospective clients from the convention center's waiting list might be encouraged to come to Hawaii.
Regardless, he said the convention center has 36 events scheduled this year involving groups outside the state. He said those events will bring in roughly 103,000 people and take up 193,000 hotel nights. Davis said that translates to close to $310 million in visitor spending and another $26 million in taxes.
Davis said the National Association of Letter Carriers will hold its biennial national convention in mid-July and bring in approximately 12,000 visitors. That event will be followed by the American Psychological Association's annual meeting, which is expected to draw 10,000 visitors.