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Chinese travel surge
needs visa relaxation

THE ISSUE State officials are urging the U.S. and Chinese governments to lift tourist visa restrictions.

CHINA is quickly being recognized around the world as a source of tourists, but the United States is lagging behind other countries in accommodating that potential. Iran is the latest entry -- joining Canada, Australia, Britain and India -- among nations allowing visits from groups of Chinese leisure travelers. Hawaii stands to benefit once it can fully open its gates to high-end tourism from China.

Barely 13,000 Chinese visitors set feet in Hawaii last year, comprising less than half of 1 percent of tourists who visited the islands. China's decision to allow the yuan to rise in value against the dollar will give its citizens more spending power, but visa restrictions stand in the way of significant gains in tourism to America.

A June trip to China by state and business officials resulted in Hawaii gaining permission to open a Beijing office aimed at luring new business and tourism. The hassle of completing in-person interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing or at local consulates remains the major obstacle in attracting tourists.

Chinese officials granted "approved destination status" this month to Iran, which will begin issuing more convenient one-week stay visas to groups of tourists. Other countries are seeking similar status, realizing that the 15 million individuals making trips from China could soon surpass Japan's outbound travel.

Tourism officials billing Hawaii as a golfing destination should note that the bug has hit China. More than 250 golf courses have been planted in China since the first one opened in 1984, and 50 more are being developed.

Britain and China agreed on the favored status in July, and a Scottish company offering complete golf packages promptly gave 80 Chinese visitors a 24-hour whistle-stop tour of Scotland, including the St. Andrews Old Course. VisitBritain estimates a Chinese tourism market of nearly $1 billion by 2020, an indication of how lucrative Chinese tourism could be in Hawaii.

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Energy bill contains
touch of sweetness

THE ISSUE The legislation provides funds for ethanol production from sugar cane.

A $36 MILLION grant program for sugar cane-based ethanol production is hardly as sweet as the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies the energy bill signed by President Bush bestows on the oil, coal and nuclear power industries.

Still, the grants and loan guarantees for projects that make the fuel for mixing with gasoline could benefit Hawaii's sugar growers and its consumers. With ethanol plants in the works on Kauai, Oahu and Maui, the grants could further spur production here and lower gasoline prices that have risen dramatically in the last year.

Though ethanol production here lags behind corn- and soy-based yields on the mainland and falls far short of output in Brazil -- a pioneer in cane-based ethanol -- every drop will count as drivers see gasoline edge close to $3 a gallon.

In addition, the state cleared new regulations last year to fulfill a requirement that at least 85 percent of gasoline sold in the islands by April contain 10 percent ethanol. The mandate is Hawaii's effort to reduce dependence on oil but also to keep land in sugar production as growers struggle to make profits in a global market. Ethanol will give growers another use for the crop that once was king in the islands.

In a letter to the New York Times, two members of Hawaii's congressional delegation corrected columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who wrote that the energy bill ignored sugar-based ethanol and cited Brazil's success in cutting its dependence on oil by more than half since 1973.

"Our provisions are extremely modest when compared with the Brazilian program," wrote Sen. Daniel Akaka and Congressman Neil Abercrombie, "but we believe that they will demonstrate feasibility in tapping one of the country's most abundant crops."

Friedman correctly criticized the energy bill for its lack of solutions for the nation's energy problems, saying that it contains "massive pork slabs" for fuel companies "who need them least."

For Hawaii, however, a thin slice of bacon will feed a lean industry.

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