Japanese tourists trickling back to local business
By David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| George "Mavro" Mavrothalassitis prepares onaga at his King Street restaurant. He says his business is pulling out of the post-Sept. 11 slump.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
George Mavrothalassitis touched down in France on Sept. 10 ready for some relaxation after successfully pulling his new South King Street restaurant, Chef Mavro, through the first 2 1/2 anxious years.
"The summer was so fantastic, I decided to go on vacation," Mavrothalassitis said. "When Sept. 11 happened, I said, 'Oh, my god, I'm dead.' "
The trip was canceled and Mavrothalassitis hurried to Honolulu, where he has been hustling for eight months to get his business back to where it was a year ago. He's made headway, and many nights his 60 seats are again filled. But there is one portion of his clientele that hasn't returned to their pre-Sept. 11 numbers — the Japanese.
"If we had the number of Japanese that we had before Sept. 11, we would be sold out every night," Mavrothalassitis said.
He's not alone. Businesses throughout O'ahu are feeling the continued drop in Japanese tourists.
The number of daily Japanese arrivals to Hawai'i are still a stubborn 20 to 30 percent below where they were a year ago. In early March, they had pulled to within 5 percent of year-ago levels, but April was not kind. The number dropped back to 2,000 to 4,000 visitors per day, or about 1,000 a day below April 2001.
While Hawai'i has done much better than the Mainland at luring Japanese back after Sept. 11 — Japanese bookings to the Mainland remain down almost 50 percent — that's little consolation to businesses like Chef Mavro that depend on Japanese for 20 percent or more of sales.
What's even more worrisome is that Japan's slow economy may be replacing fear of flying as the chief reason for the drop in Japanese tourists. The Japanese economy is mired in its third recession in a decade. Many travelers are choosing low-cost, close-by destinations, such as South Korea and China, over the pricier Hawaiian vacation. And that is a trend that may be hard to overcome.
"Due to the still weak economic conditions, people are very severe about spending money, and low-priced tours seem more preferred than ever," wrote Masako Shimada, head of sales in western Japan for Aloha Airlines and president of the Osaka Hawaii Promotion Committee, in an e-mail.
As with other businesses in Hawai'i, Chef Mavro has made up some of the lost Japanese clientele with an increase in customers from the Mainland, especially San Francisco and New York.
Arrivals from the Mainland to Hawai'i are back to year-ago levels, and on good days exceed those levels. That has saved many tourist-related businesses.
The other bright spot Mavrothalassitis has noticed is that the Japanese who do come to Hawai'i these days are more likely to spend a few extra bucks on a gourmet dinner.
Japanese spending per person has increased about 40 percent, to $278 per day in February from $202 per day a year ago, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
"There are less Japanese, but they are more sophisticated," Mavrothalassitis said. "We see a lot of women — two, three or four to a table. They are taking the six-course menu with wine."
That is the most expensive item on his menu at $123.
Harlan Bratcher has also noticed an increase in Japanese spending. The president of A/X Armani Exchange said that after Sept. 11 sales dropped 25 percent at his Kalakaua clothing store, where close to 80 percent of the customers are Japanese.
"We worked steadily and today we are flat from this time last year," said Bratcher, explaining that through managing costs and improving service, the shop has been able to get more transactions and more profit out of each customer.
For people who remember the heady days of the late '80s or '90s when the Japanese would buy with abandon, today's spending doesn't seem like more.
"In the '90s, people just opened the doors and business happened," Bratcher said. "It is not like that anymore. We work hard."
Mavrothalassitis knows that.
The native Frenchman spent $500,000 — a little less than half of that in the form of an eight-year Small Business Administration loan — to open Chef Mavro in December 1998. Mavrothalassitis and his wife of 10 years, Donna Jung, who doubles as his publicist, put up the bulk of the money. Then the pressure was on.
The first few months were good as curious local customers filled the seats nightly.
But Mavrothalassitis was dead set on not spending for advertising and business began to slow.
"If I tell you this is the best restaurant in the world, you do not believe me," he said. "If Gourmet magazine says it, you believe it."
He anticipated a dip in business as they waited for word to spread. Jung had circulated press releases, hoping that magazines and guidebooks would pick up on it. With no budget, her Japanese publicity was limited to sending her English-language press release to friends in Hawai'i with Japanese contacts.
Jung also pushed her husband, whose only day off is Monday, to get out and promote the business.
"I have him out all the time doing cooking demonstrations," Jung said.
"She kills me," Mavrothalassitis added with a grin.
Eventually the articles started coming out and guidebooks were updated with the Chef Mavro listing. Jung estimates 100 Japanese publications have featured the restaurant. And the business started to build.
By the summer of 2001, Chef Mavro was hot. Most nights were full and Japanese customers made up about 20 percent of the clientele.
Mavrothalassitis was living his dream. The restaurant was profitable. He had the employees, the location and the clientele he always wanted. Then Sept. 11 hit.
"October was dead," he said. "You could play bowling in the dining room."
It's been a slow climb out of that hole, and Mavrothalassitis is almost back to his bumper days of last summer. With the return of the Japanese he will be there.
And if they don't come back?
"I'm not happy," Mavrothalassitis said. "But we are not going to die."
