Lingle: ‘We aren't an amusement park’

The governor urges Hawaii to showcase its natural attributes

Hawaii's key visitor industry needs to rethink the face it shows to the world, not just build new attractions, if it wants to compete in an increasingly global marketplace, Gov. Linda Lingle told attendees yesterday at the annual Hawaii Tourism Conference.

"We aren't an amusement park ..." she said. "We are the most unique state in America."

To keep its share of visitors, Lingle and other speakers told members of Hawaii's visitor industry to reinvest in programs that offer visitors an authentic island experience.

In addition, isle tourism must diversify by cultivating visitors from new source markets like Korea and China, they said.

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Hawaii's visitor industry needs to develop new vision and create niche markets if it wants to compete in an increasingly global marketplace, Gov. Linda Lingle told attendees yesterday at the annual Hawaii Tourism Conference.

Lingle's address, which urged members of the state's visitor industry to embrace innovation to deliver authenticity, was echoed throughout the day by speakers ranging from world-acclaimed filmmaker Edgy Lee to kamaaina consultants and visitor industry experts from outside of Hawaii.

Hawaii has oft been told that it needs to build new activities and attractions to hold onto its 7 million or so visitors a year; however, that's not the answer, Lingle said.

"We aren't an amusement park ..." she said. "We are the most unique state in America."

A new attraction would amuse a relatively small number of people per year, and the impact wouldn't be as effective as focusing on Hawaii's unique natural attributes, cultural richness and aloha, she said.

On a recent trip to Japan to address declining visitor counts to Hawaii, Lingle said it was as if she were in a time warp going back to her days as mayor of Maui.

"I heard the same issues that I did in 1995," she said. "But, the world is different today than it was two years ago, five years ago, 10 or even 20 years ago. I think that this industry needs to step back to move forward."

From the outside looking in, Lee advised members of the Hawaii's visitor industry to "do more with less."

When visitors come to Hawaii, the state's visitor industry should give them an authentic experience, she said. Sending visitors to places like the Hilo farmer's market and Honolulu's Chinatown exposes them to kamaaina charm and connects them to the host culture.

For starters, Lee recommended developing tours of taro farms, places frequented by famous writers and architectural sites.

"It's about creating better stories," said Scott Ahlsmith, vice president of Global Network Solutions, virtuoso and chairman of the board of the Travel Institute.

Hawaii also needs to cultivate new niche markets that appeal to the reduced numbers of Japan travelers as well as travelers from emerging tourist markets like China and Korea, conference speakers said.

During the days after 9/11, Hawaii had a security advantage over other destinations, but travelers have gotten used to safety measures and the edge is gone, said David Uchiyama, director of marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Hawaii is increasingly competing with Mexico, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and relatively new destinations like the Maldives, Uchiyama said.

"Our industry is experiencing a wake-up call and we need to prepare," he said.

Hawaii is losing market share among visitors from Japan because it faces increased competition from lower-cost Asia destinations that offer good service and new facilities, said Tim Sullivan, founder of Japan Interface, a company whose clients include Honda, Toyota, Kyo-ya and Sheraton.

"We have to create a situation where customers want to come to Hawaii to experience something that they can't experience anywhere else," he said.

Korea and China have the potential to be Hawaii's two largest foreign markets; however, visitors from these countries still lack ease of access to the islands.

Today, Hawaii gets about 70,000 Koreans per year, but the market is expected to grow to 225,000 within the first few years of getting its visa issues resolved, said David Ruch, general manager for United Airlines in Korea.

"Korea has tremendous buying power and that is expected to stabilize or get stronger," he said.

China is expected to produce more than 100 million outbound tourists by 2020, said Kevin Chambers, commercial officer for the U.S. consul general in Shanghai.

And while visitors from China aren't likely to spend a great deal of money on food or hotels, like the Japan visitors of old -- they love to shop.

"Tourists from mainland China generally spend about 60 percent of their expenditures on shopping," Chambers said.