"Everybody's smiling right now. In general, we're having a really good year and fall, which is typically soft, looks to be stronger than usual." Frank Haas Hawaii Tourism Authority marketing director

Isles hear more
wedding bells
from Japan

The market in Hawaii is expected
to grow 14 percent this year

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Japan's wedding and honeymoon travelers are starting to fall in love with Hawaii all over again.

The country's overseas wedding market to the islands, which peaked with 31,000 weddings in 2000, had been in steady decline due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, SARS and the war with Iraq.

By last year, the market had dropped 32 percent to 21,000 weddings, but the trend has gradually started to turn around, said Donald Amemiya of Watabe Weddings Corp., which handles about 50 percent of the market for Hawaii.

"Hawaii is the king of the Polynesian destinations for the Japanese people," Amemiya said. "They can go elsewhere, but they still prefer to come to Hawaii if their situation and circumstance allow it."

For the first time in three years, the market is forecast to grow, and will rise 14 percent to 24,000 weddings by year end, Amemiya said. Japan's improving economy and the perception of better world conditions have increased the desire and means for Japanese couples to come to Hawaii.

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More than half of all Japanese overseas weddings and about 30 percent of all honeymoons for the rest of this year are booked for Hawaii, according to the Japan Travel Bureau's Autumn Honeymoon and Wedding Season survey, released this month.

While the market probably won't rebound to 2000 levels anytime soon because of competition from other destinations such as Australia, Guam, Saipan, Bali and Thailand, members of Hawaii's visitor industry are optimistic that new trends could boost revenues, Amemiya said.

Japanese wedding and honeymoon visitors are a key market for the state because they tend to spend more than other travelers and once they visit, if Hawaii makes them happy, they'll keep coming back, said Frank Haas, director of marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

"Everybody's smiling right now," Haas said. "In general, we're having a really good year, and fall, which is typically soft, looks to be stronger than usual."

In the past, Japan weddings and honeymoons in Hawaii were clustered from April to June. However, more Japanese couples are spreading bookings throughout the year. The number of overseas weddings and honeymoons with departures in October and November will exceed those that took place in the spring, said Yujiro Kuwabara, spokesman for JTB Hawaii Inc.

"Fall travel is a trend that will stay," Amemiya said, adding Japanese couples like the opportunity to leverage work holidays and take advantage of value pricing.

Members of Hawaii's visitor industry also are seeing larger wedding parties, said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of Hawaii operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.

"Couples are starting to make it more of an event," Vieira said. "We're starting to see wedding groups with as many as 40 people."

But while the market is shifting upward, Hawaii needs to remain vigilant to keep growing its market share, said Roberta Rinker-Ludloff, vice president of marketing for the Hawaii region of Hilton Hotels Corp.

"We have seen that fall bookings are stronger than the summer. However, collectively our industry needs to work closer with Japanese wholesalers to take advantage of the interest in Hawaii by upcoming brides and grooms," she said.

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