Maui sets sights on kama'aina tourism

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — O'ahu residents may be hearing more about the allure of Maui in the next few months as the Maui Visitors Bureau takes aim at a new target audience: Hawai'i's kama'aina.

The effort is part of a short-term marketing plan designed to help jump-start a tourism industry hit hard following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Marsha Wienert, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, said the agency intends to reprioritize its marketing strategy and spend a greater portion of its $3.3 million budget in the next few months in an effort to keep Maui "top of mind.''

Among the potential visitors Maui tourism officials are taking aim at are those from O'ahu, an audience never before targeted.

The MVB, among other things, is planning a series of "Mahalo Pau Hana'' receptions Oct. 24-26 in Honolulu. The events are being planned for top-producing travel agents that book kama'aina business to Maui County.

The bureau has also canceled a $270,000 campaign to promote Maui in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and will instead use the money to focus on Mainland and Canadian markets, mainly in the West and Midwest.

These are the areas where business can be generated quickly, Wienert said. Canada, in particular, has remained strong, with flights to Hawai'i about 80 percent full, she said.

The three-month campaign will feature increased advertising, public relations, promotions, sales, direct mail and telemarketing, all emphasizing the same message conveyed in the past: that Maui is the Magic Isle.

The new strategy, Wienert said, will be coordinated with new Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau efforts, but will be independent.

Maui Mayor James "Kimo'' Apana endorsed the plan as a necessary emergency measure. The mayor also praised the MVB for focusing its marketing strategy on the Mainland rather than Japan. It's a focus, he said, that has allowed Maui to fare better than O'ahu following the Sept. 11 attacks.

A report earlier this month from Ernst & Young noted that O'ahu may be slower to recover than the rest of the state because of its dependence on tourism from Japan.

Americans account for up to 80 percent of visitors to Maui and Kaua'i, which may hasten those islands' recovery, the consulting firm said.