Big Island travel touted in Japan

Advertiser Staff

Big Island Visitors Bureau executive director George Applegate is in Tokyo this week to encourage media coverage and stimulate visitor growth on the Big Island.

The trip "focuses on renewed efforts to brand the Big Island for Japanese destination weddings, golf tours, meetings and conventions and soft adventures," Applegate said in a statement.

The tour will cost $30,000, said trip participant Ross Wilson of Current Events, the public relations agency for the Big Island Visitors Bureau.

More than 230,000 Japanese visitors traveled to the Big Island in 2001 — more than any other Neighbor Island. In February, Japanese arrivals to the Big Island were about 12 percent below last year.