Despite the potential, the emerging Chinese visitor market to Hawaii will be slow to develop, given that significant hurdles still exist, including the lack of direct flights and visa restrictions.

Since an inaugural group of 160 came to Hawaii following the U.S.'s Approved Destination Status in June, allowing leisure travelers to the state, the number of Chinese visitors has not grown significantly, according to a report released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Overall numbers from Other Asia (China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan) dropped 2.8 percent in the first three quarters of this year, to 86,860.

The state has set aside $1.7 million for marketing in China, Taiwan and South Korea. They are viewed as emerging markets to help offset continuing declines in the number of visitors from Japan, which dropped nearly 20 percent in September.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority believes the China outbound travel market is two-and-a-half times greater than Japan.

In 2007, HTA tracked 41 million outbound travelers from China, including Hong Kong, which was up 18.6 percent from 2006.

Only 22,774 Chinese (including those from Hong Kong) came to Hawaii in 2007, which is small compared to the 962,810 from Japan, according to DBEDT data.

The Korea market, once visa waivers are in place, is more promising in the near future, according to David Uchiyama, HTA's vice president of tourism marketing. Korean travelers already have direct flights to Hawaii.

The state's Asia marketing arm will attend travel expos, a bridal fair in Shanghai, and offer a Chinese New Year-themed package to Hawaii.

A Hawaii honeymoon guide will be published once a year, along with monthly e-newsletters.

  Henry Ou, owner of Air and Sea Travel, a 10-year-old travel agency, says he can now market group leisure travel, but that's not the answer.

“;Right now, it's not a matter of whether they want to come or not,”; he said. “;It's a question of whether they can afford to come.”;

Average prices for a couple visiting Hawaii now cost about $2,500 a person, including airfare and hotel, according to Ou. He thinks most Chinese travelers would be more comfortable paying $2,000 or less each.

“;Why spend marketing dollars telling people how pretty Hawaii is?”; said Ou. “;They know already. We need to give discounts for airline flights to Hawaii and encourage airlines to come to Hawaii.”;

For Ou, the biggest hurdle is the lack of direct flights from China to Honolulu at a competitive price.

There are indirect flights, but not many, via Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, Taiwan's China Airlines and Japan Airlines.

Direct flights between China and Taiwan that began this summer, however, may offer more convenience since China Airlines offers direct flights to Honolulu.

Mega Global Airways, a Beijing-based charter company which announced in May that it was launching six weekly nonstop flights to Honolulu this year, has not yet moved forward.

President Edmond Xia said in an e-mail that Mega was in the process of obtaining necessary certifications and upgrading its aircraft, which will take at least three to six months.

Frank Haas of the University of Hawaii travel school says besides the lack of airlift, China's base of potential travelers still needs time to expand.

At the same time, there are other destinations - Hong Kong and Macau - which are much more popular among Chinese travelers and closer to home.

“;It's not like we don't have competition,”; he said.

Haas says it's still important to market Hawaii to China in what he considers “;development work”; - creating relationships, or guangxi, as the Chinese call it, which is important for doing business.

“;There is potential,”; he said, “;but it's not like it's going fall from the sky.”;