Revamped Hawaii.com unveiled
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
A new Hawaii.com travel and entertainment Web site was officially launched yesterday by Gannett Co. Inc. and Stephens Media Group in a move that organizers hope will attract 6 million visitors to the site each year and make the Islands more attractive to potential tourists.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The overhauled Hawaii.com's focus is on Web site visitors who will spend more than 15 to 20 minutes on the site researching everything from local news stories to Hawaiian history to making airline, hotel and tourist-site reservations on any island.
Honolulu Advertiser Publisher Mike Fisch, speaking to Gov. Ben Cayetano and others at the State Capitol, says the new Hawaii.com site has become a more interactive travel portal for people interested in visiting the Islands.
Early this year, Gannett, the parent company of The Honolulu Advertiser, and Las Vegas-based Stephens Media announced plans to jointly develop and operate Hawaii.com. Stephens Media owns the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in Hilo, West Hawaii Today in Kailua-Kona and the North Hawaii News in Waimea.
The site will target the Mainland with an estimated $4.2 million advertising campaign in more than 40 markets. Major sponsors include Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and Hawaiian Airlines, which will have prime advertising locations on the Web site, said Rhett Long, president and chief executive of Hawaii.com.
But Web site visitors looking to book vacations will have access to all airlines, hotels and visitor attractions in the Islands, said Mike Fisch, president and publisher of The Advertiser.
The original Hawaii.com was launched two years ago by Donrey Media before it changed its name to Stephens. The site received about 2 million hits annually, Long said.
"The difference between the old Hawaii.com and the new Hawaii.com is that Hawaii.com is now really focused on being a travel portal for those individuals who are interested in coming to Hawai'i," Fisch said. "Before, it had that mission but didn't quite execute it as well as it could. Now it's designed to be more interactive, in that you can book flights, you can book rooms, you can book activities for your trip to Hawai'i. Before you could find out information but couldn't do your booking through the various partners that we have."
Gov. Ben Cayetano helped launch the Web site and signed a proclamation declaring yesterday "Hawaii.com Day." "This announcement of Hawaii. com is something that we all will welcome," Cayetano said.
But state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, co-chairwoman of the tourism and intergovernmental affairs committee, wondered yesterday why the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, charged with marketing Island tourism, didn't secure the Hawaii.com name and why the bureau's Web site — gohawaii.com — seems more difficult to navigate.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
"It needs a lot of work," Kim said. "They've been saying they're going to upgrade the site for a long time, and it's not been done. They're using tax dollars, but if private institutions can do this better, then we should let them, or partner with them, and use the money we desperately need for our infrastructure and natural resources."
The new Hawaii.com was introduced at a luncheon at the Halekulani hotel.
Earlier in the day at the State Capitol, Cayetano good-naturedly asked Tony Vericella, executive director of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, whether Hawaii.com would compete with the HVCB's Web site.
"No actually, it's a great complement. ... It's going to be added exposure and a layer on top of what we do," Vericella said.
Hawaii.com will be heavily marketed in major California cities — which generate 20 percent of all Hawai'i visitors — and in travel industry publications and Gannett newspapers across the country, including USA Today, Long said.
The cost for non-Gannett advertising through October is estimated at $478,000.
Gannett said it will help develop content for the site and drive traffic to it through its network of more than 100 Internet sites, including USAToday.com and HonoluluAdvertiser.com.
The domain name Hawaii.com, combined with content from The Advertiser and marketing through Gannett's 95 daily newspapers and publications owned by Stephens, "is invaluable," said Pete Martinez, president of eBizHawaii.com, an Internet ad agency that has created more than 400 Web sites and has no role in Hawaii.com.
"It sounds like I have an ownership stake," Martinez said. "This is not a paid statement. I truly am enthused about what Hawaii.com is doing."
Gannett and Stephens are dividing the costs of Hawaii.com. Fisch said Gannett expects to generate revenue through advertising, sponsorships and commissions on transactions and bookings.
But some of the people invited to the unveiling of the Web site at the Halekulani hotel yesterday were guarded in their enthusiasm.
Verna Bays and Lilian Heath of American Savings Bank said they need more information about how Hawaii.com would target the bank's core customers — Hawai'i residents — before they consider advertising on it.
"The state of Hawai'i needs a Web site like this," said Bays, the bank's marketing service manager. "This has a lot of potential. But our focus is the local consumer and locals still like to travel interisland and see local attractions, too."
