Japan travel woes hurting Hawai'i's wedding business

By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer

Gloria Bridal Services Inc. in Waikiki has long depended on a constant stream of Japanese brides and grooms flying in to have a summer wedding in paradise.

Michael Hjermstad and Meikuei Hsieh are reflected in a mirrored limousine roof as they leave the Ohana East Hotel for their wedding. A downturn in travel from Japan has resulted in a sharp drop for Hawai'i wedding businesses. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Compared to last year, we have a very slow season that we never expected," said assistant Tomoko Watabe.

Traditionally, about half of all Japanese weddings overseas have been in Hawai'i. But Japan's continuing sluggish economy, concern about air travel after the Sept. 11 attacks, and a less favorable exchange rate are prompting a growing number of Japanese couples to marry closer to home, in locations such as Guam.

Watabe Wedding Corp., the largest organizer of overseas weddings for Japanese, said it has about 10,000 Hawai'i weddings booked for the fiscal year that started April 1 — far short of the more than 15,000 it had booked for the same period in 2000. JTB Hawaii, a travel management service, said its weddings booked from April to June were about 22 percent below previous-year figures.

The sharp drop has prompted Gloria Bridal and dozens of other local wedding businesses that target Japanese customers to turn to the West Coast and elsewhere to make up for the loss.

At its peak, Gloria Bridal Services had about 200 weddings a month at its Diamond Head Gloria Garden and St. Catalina Seaside chapels. That has been cut in half since Sept. 11.

And while the company still does about 90 percent of its weddings for Japanese customers, two months ago it started advertising in a bridal magazine distributed in Los Angeles.

The company also is considering advertising in national bridal magazines such as Modern Bride or Martha Stewart Weddings.

"It's really new to us, to put in the ads," said Watanabe, of Gloria Bridal. "We just started to think about how to organize this marketing matter to get more customers."

Watabe Wedding doesn't advertise to West Coast couples yet.

"But we plan to move in that direction," said Susan Louie, the company's assistant manager for planning in Honolulu. "We want to target all types of customers. It just so happens that our customers happen to be Japanese."

The loss of bridal business from Japan has attracted the attention of Steve Young, chief executive of Canoe Girl Productions in Honolulu, who has been producing the television program "Bridal Boutique" that shows Japanese weddings in Hawai'i.

The goal of the show, he said, is to "help out the state of Hawai'i" by bringing more Japanese visitors. But "we're not sure if it's effective or not," Young said.

The Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau's vice president for North America, David Preece, said the bureau had been targeting the wedding and honeymoon market in North America with advertising and promotions.

"The wedding segment from the U.S. in Hawai'i is still very small, but it's growing very rapidly, as opposed to Japan, where it's the opposite," Preece said.

Michael Hjermstad and Meikuei Hsieh enter their limousine in front of the Ohana East Hotel. Hawai'i wedding businesses are turning to couples from the Mainland to make up for the drop in Japanese business. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We're working toward our connection to the West market," Stone said, noting that the resort's West Coast wedding business had doubled in the last year. "We think it's a market to build."

Weddings make up about 90 percent of business for Dieu "Duke" Tiet, who owns Honolulu-based Duke's Limousine Inc. Tiet has seen a drop in Japanese clientele. Last year, he was picking up couples for 10 to 12 weddings a day. This year, it's closer to eight to 10 a day, he said. Recently the company has increased its focus on Mainland business.

"You can't depend on one basket," Tiet said.

To be sure, some wedding businesses targeting Japanese couples are finding it difficult to transition away from the Japanese market, because their contacts and agreements are with Japanese companies.

But many still are trying to find other sources of business.

That's the case for Masako Formals in Honolulu. A year ago, the company was working with 30 brides a week, and was "just a little too busy with Japanese clients," said Sayoko Burgon, administrator for the wedding dress reseller. Now there are only about seven or eight brides coming in each week.

Typically, 70 percent to 80 percent of Burgon's business is from Japanese customers.

"Now we're trying to reverse that," she said, and get local and Mainland customers up to 50 percent of the company's business.

"Sept. 11 changed our attitude toward our prospects, so we started targeting the local business more," Burgon said. "It's going to be that way in the future, because it's hard to depend on business from Japan."

The company has been putting more effort into advertising and local wedding expos, and is working on its Web site to attract more business from the Mainland.

Watabe Weddings has found that the Japanese most likely to come to Hawai'i to get married are city dwellers who don't feel bound by customs or rules. Now many Japanese wedding businesses are trying to figure out what kinds of Mainland couples are most likely to come to Hawai'i to tie the knot.

Older people who have been married before are more apt to come to Hawai'i for smaller weddings, said Denny Walker, president of the wedding services company Exclusives Inc. Also more likely to come are couples whose families live far apart.

Ko Olina's Stone has been zeroing in on the idea that West Coast couples prefer outdoor weddings. "They don't come here just to be married in a chapel," he said.

Burgon is hoping Mainland couples from inland states especially will find appeal in a casual oceanside wedding, so Masako Formals is bringing in some Hawaiian-style dresses.

"We are quite excited about that," she said. "I don't know how it's going to appeal to people, but we'll wait and see."

Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470 or at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.