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Ready or not:

The Chinese are coming!
The Chinese are coming!

BRYANT FUKUTOMI / BFUKUTOMI@STARBULLETIN.COM

In the judgment of this lay persons' point of view, who has had business dealings and has traveled in China, Hawaii is not ready for tourists from mainland China.

This answer is based in part, on a recent 10-day visit by a Chinese government delegation which was sponsored by the Sino-Hawaii Association of Businesses and Manufacturers Inc. This trip included visits to Honolulu, Hilo, Fremont, San Francisco, San Jose, Anaheim and Orange County, Calif.

Although this delegation of five high-level government officials is not an accurate demographic of the long range future tourist from China, it is a clear example of the wave of Chinese tourists flying into Hawaii and the rest of the United States. A majority of the Chinese tourists are either government officials or manufacturer owners/representatives or wealthy business travelers, all with the ability to secure a U.S. travel visa. Many of these same tourists will be travelers who have visited many other parts of the Far East, Europe and major cities in the United States. Many government officials and businessmen fly into Hawaii, under the radar, because they still see Hawaii as being a place to visit and not to do business.

A vast majority of these same tourists will fly into Hawaii, with their own Mandarin-speaking translators, in order to learn as much a possible and understand as much as possible about our culture. Such a quest will include asking questions, communicating with business and government leaders and participating in Hawaiian cultural activities.

Such learning cannot happen in Hawaii unless we have highly trained Mandarin-speaking translators in the government and private sector to provide such information. Without specialized translators in Hawaii, how can we expect to explain U.S. business and government practices, or for our hotel industry to properly serve our travelers from China?

When the Japanese wave of investors and tourist arrived in Hawaii, there was a large population of Japanese-speaking U.S. citizens in Hawaii ready to fill the thousands of Japanese-speaking positions. There were also many Japanese organizations, tour agencies and churches available to help.

This is not the same situation we are facing with China. Most of our Chinese population in Hawaii speak the Cantonese dialect. The national dialect in China is Mandarin. Accordingly, we do not have the same base of Mandarin-speaking population to fall upon when the wave of Chinese tourist come to Hawaii.

The Chinese are faced with the same problem in China, with the 2008 Olympics around the corner. The Chinese government will need to train thousands of English-speaking workers and translators for the thousands of visitors who will arrive for the 2008 Olympics and for the millions of tourists who will visit China after the Olympics.

However, the difference between Hawaii and China is that the latter recognizes that it has an English language/cultural problem that must be dealt with immediately, while in Hawaii, there is no public outcry to train our students to prepare them for a tsunami of Chinese tourists. Isn't it time to start preparing for it?

Side observations:

» The most popular type of restaurant during the delegation visit was Chinese food. Although, the dishes and taste of Chinese food is superior in China, Chinese food to the Chinese traveler in the United States is comfort food. Just like American tourists who will seek out a McDonald's or Starbucks overseas, the same applies to Chinese. I mistakenly thought our Chinese restaurants were not fancy enough for our travelers and had taken the delegation to expensive U.S. restaurants instead. After a few days, I was informed that Chinese food was preferred even if it meant Chinese food for lunch, dinner and late snack.

» The hotel room is not important. The daily rate and level of service is much more important. It is critical to have someone who can speak the language at the front desk and be able to help set up long-distance calls. What also helps is having the hotels provide free breakfast meals to their Chinese visitors. Most hotels in China provide such a service to their clients.

» Make tourist attractions participatory rather than just spectator events. Chinese traveling overseas love to learn and be a part of the tourist attractions. Explaining the background and mechanics of a tourist attraction is greatly appreciated. Our delegates were very pleased to receive a personal tour of Disneyland and to receive a behind-the-scene look at the Disney park as well.

» Never assume our sales signs make sense to Chinese visitors. For example, a sign in a discount retail center in San Jose said, "50% off the second shoe". A couple of the delegates thought this sign meant that the second shoe was free. Our translator had to explain extensively before the concept became clear. Note: Chinese love to bargain and feel this is part of the shopping experience.

» Do not assume the Chinese tourist will buy your merchandise because it is cheap or on sale. It is important for the Chinese tourist to the United States to bring back items made here. Even if the design of a Nike shoe is unique, the sophisticated Chinese tourist will not purchase the shoe if the labels says, "Made in China".

The more stores we went to in Hawaii and California, the more evident it became that most products are manufactured outside of the United States, especially in China. Therefore, if you are going to sell gifts from Hawaii to Chinese tourists, please make sure the product is "Made in Hawaii" or at the minimum, in the United States.

» Just as it is silly to think people in Hawaii still live in grass shacks, do not assume that most Chinese tourists are poor or do not have modern cities like the United States. The members of our delegation, all high-ranking government officials, have their own personal drivers who drive expensive foreign-made automobiles. Also, many of them dine in five-star Chinese restaurants when entertaining guests. The elite in China lead lives that would be the envy of a majority of Americans.

» Many Chinese tourists eat healthy and refrain from eating sweets. During our stay in California, it was not uncommon for us to stop into a grocery store to purchase fruits and bottled water.

I advise everyone looking at the wave of Chinese tourists as the next economic arm for Hawaii to start questioning whether we are ready. And if not, what needs to be done before the wave starts.

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