State opens $55,000 health tourism initiative
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i Tourism Authority is starting a new $55,000 initiative to build health and wellness tourism in the state.
The idea is to do a better job of promoting health and wellness services in Hawai'i to the rest of the world, by providing more information to tourists on what's available, including health and wellness treatments unique to Hawai'i, promoting health and wellness tourism packages and other programs.
To do that, the authority plans to hold a statewide forum of health and wellness providers in October; assess the health and wellness infrastructure here; distinguish among medical care, health, fitness and wellness; and determine what categories of tourists to promote the services to and how.
"I've been told it's a $25 billion industry nationwide," said Ron Wright, vice chairman of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. "We have many pieces of the wellness industry in Hawai'i already."
The plan came out of a meeting last month of about 30 people including Pauline Sheldon, University of Hawai'i School of Travel Industry Management interim dean; Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; Edwin Cadman, UH Medical School dean; filmmaker Elizabeth Lindsey Buyers; and physician Terry Shintani.
The authority has contracted with Ira Zunin, chief executive of Kokua Integrated Healthcare Solutions, for a $5,000 investment on the first phase of organization so far, and has not yet awarded the remaining $50,000 to complete work.
The investment is one of a few recent developments of health and wellness tourism in the state. Laura Crites, author of a wellness tourism guidebook paid for by a $20,000 grant from the tourism authority, founded the Hawaii Wellness Tourism Association this year. The Hawai'i Tourism Authority also supports county grants for niche tourism areas, including health and wellness.
Zunin said health and wellness is well-suited for Hawai'i as an industry that represents a "cultural crossroads, a gateway between East and West," that includes everything from spas to traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and other medical treatments. He said with Cadman's help, UH's new medical school, the Health and Wellness Center, also will be an important part of the industry.
The tourism authority also has partnerships with DBEDT and Enterprise Honolulu to find health and wellness businesses to move to or develop in Hawai'i, Wright said.
People seeking health and wellness treatments in their travels often go to spa centers or places with hot springs such as Hungary and Turkey, Zunin said. But if the state can better develop and promote the health and wellness industry here, including unique offerings such as Hawaiian lomi lomi massage, "Hawai'i really does have an opportunity to enjoy a first-mover advantage," he said. A rollout of the health and wellness marketing program may be ready by the end of next year.
An important job for the tourism authority is to avoid pitfalls such as practitioners that could discredit the health and wellness industry here.
"There are practices that are unproven and there are practitioners that may be providing services that are not adequately credentialed," Zunin said. "To do this well, it needs to be safe, it needs to be ethical, and it needs to be credible — something the state can be proud of."
