THE Hawaiian islands begin their new year UK campaign in earnest this year with appearances at three regional consumer holiday shows this month and next month as well as a new week-long themed promotion in London in March.
With UK visitor figures approaching the 100,000 mark, the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau aims to stimulate interest levels despite tough budget controls.
The total for 1999 is expected to be 88,400 – a significant rise on the 80,000 Britons who went to the islands the previous year.
Hawaii will have its own stand at the three consumer shows. These include the Holiday and Travel Exhibition in Manchester from January 14 to 16, the Inter-Hol Show in Bournemouth from February 4 to 6 and the Holiday Show at the NEC in Birmingham from February 25 to 27.
A new initiative, called Aloha City, will be staged at a London hotel to promote Hawaiian food, entertainment and culture, with chefs and dancers travelling to the capital from the islands.
A trade dinner will also be held during the event, which is planned for the third week in March.
HCVB UK representative Julie Blissett said: “The Aloha City promotion has been successfully staged on a regular basis in other markets, such as Asia and North America, and gives maximum consumer awareness for Hawaii at relatively low cost.”
The London event may lead to a series of Aloha City promotions in other regions in 2001, including the Midlands, the northwest and Scotland, if the bureau gets the support of partner airlines or tour operators.
Blissett said: “The March event could be a pilot for more extensive regional week-long promotions that could also incorporate agent training roadshows.
“They would have to be done in partnership with tour operators who could attract agents within specific geographical areas. We need operators’ support because Hawaii is quite a complicated destination to sell, as each island is very different.”
The HCVB has already started a training initiative with United Vacations and parent United Airlines, which will result in 10 agents travelling to the islands later in the year.
However, Blissett is also keen to adopt agency training methods used in North America. A programme called Ke Kulu – School of Hawaii – comprises a series of regular sessions on the destination run by a professional training company. “I aim to sit in on one of these courses to learn the formula that is used and then present that to agents here. It is a very comprehensive, all-day session and includes material such as factsheets and a manual.”
The bureau is getting larger commitments from operators through additional brochure content and promotion and it hopes to get increased support from them in joint partnership schemes.
Blissett added: “The diversity of product to Hawaii is now huge and there is something to suit everyone’s pocket.
“Operators are now marketing Hawaii as a destination in its own right, as a holiday with stopovers on the West Coast and as an add-on to mainland US packages.
“Multi-island trips are also encouraging Britons to return to spend more time on their favourite island which they perhaps visited for just two or three days previously.
hawaiian islands
Location: in the South Pacific, the Hawaiian islands stretch 1,523 miles in a line from Kure Atoll in the northwest to the Big Island of Hawaii in the southeast. Ka Lae, on Hawaii, represents the southern-most point of the US. It is 2,500 miles from the nearest land mass.
The islands: Hawaii’s eight major islands are, from largest to smallest, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe. Together they have a total land area of 6,470sq miles.
The landscape: the islands are volcanic in origin, high and rugged, and cut by spectacular gorges and valleys. Their spectacular beaches range from bleached white to black. The terrain is equally contrasting, from lowland desert to alpine mountain.
Getting there: Aloha Airlines starts its first regular services from the US West Coast next month. They operate from San Francisco to Hawaii, Oahu (Honolulu) and Maui. United Airlines is the biggest operator of flights to the islands from the West Coast with around 120 services weekly. Departures are from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii, Kaui and Maui. Hawaiian Airlines has expanded its schedule with direct flights out of LA, San Francisco, Seattle and Las Vegas to Oahu and Maui. Most US transatlantic carriers offer good connections to Hawaii through their major gateways while Air New Zealand operates to Honolulu via its daily Heathrow service to Auckland over LA.