Hawaii Wants Southeast Asia Tourists

Hawaii Tourism Authority sees an untapped market.

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Four countries, 468 million people, and a combined $2.6 trillion gross domestic product.

Hawaii is looking to attract visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as part of its ongoing effort to grow the tourism industry.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has hired a contractor to promote the state in Southeast Asia. HTA shared the opportunities and challenges in its 2015 Winter Marketing Update.

Rainbow frames Waikiki's landmark Diamond Head. 9 june 2015. photograph Cory Lum/Civil Beat

HTA’s Kelvin Ong and Isabelle Ng explain in a presentation that the state plans to use hula images to help attract people to Hawaii. The presentation noted as a weakness the percent of homeless.

Roughly 9,000 people travel to Hawaii from Malaysia and Singapore combined, according to an Associated Press story Wednesday.

Ong said in the article that he aims to double that next year, even if Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia X doesn’t start flying to Honolulu from Kuala Lumpur as planned. There are no other airlines currently offering direct flights to Hawaii from Southeast Asia.

See HTA’s presentation below.

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