THE Hawaiian islands are noted for their wide range of luxury resorts and this will be evident at World Travel Market when over a dozen suppliers will be on hand to discuss new developments.
These include Outrigger, Marc Resorts and Hawaiian Hotels and Resorts, as well as newcomers Starwood Resorts Hawaii and Hilton Resorts Hawaii.
They will combine with ground operators, Hawaiian Airlines and the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau to reinforce the quality of the product.
Golf, weddings and honeymoons, scuba diving, other activities and adventure tours will be key elements of next year’s promotions alongside the traditional beach holiday market, which is now competing on price with the Caribbean.
The main islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai are also seeing increased seat capacity and new departure points out of the US West Coast from both Hawaiian and United Airlines, while Aloha Airlines begins its first Pacific services next February. It will operate two daily flights to Hawaii and one each to Honolulu on Oahu and to Maui – all from San Francisco.
UK sales representative for the HCVB, Julie Blissett, said: “The average length of stay is now almost 11 days for the British visiting the islands, which should make the destination more attractive to the retail sector, with plenty of commission to be earned.
“We are excited about the current rate of growth which, to July, showed an increase of 10.4% over 1998. We hope to reach 100,000 annual UK visitors by 2000 and, should the present growth rate continue, we’ll make that target easily.”