Posted on: Friday, November 12, 2004

Guide promotes educational tourism

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Hawai'i Chamber of Commerce is hoping to help expand educational tourism in the state by offering a handbook of resources on this niche market.

Project JOBS, a Hawai'i Chamber of Commerce Foundation program designed to help expand Hawai'i businesses and diversify the economy, has posted "The Hawaii Edutourism Handbook" on its Web site: www.projectjobshawaii.org.

"What we want the community to know is that we have just a wealth of wonderful resources that are world renowned and world class, and that we shouldn't be sitting back and not utilizing and leveraging off of these resources," said Shirleyanne Chew, executive director for economic development of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i. "We want to encourage them to take advantage of this resource that will hook them up to various tourism resources that can support their initiatives."

The 11-page handbook, prepared by a student in the Chinese Focused Masters of Business Administration program from the University of Hawai'i School of Business Administration and the Japan-America Institute of Management Science, includes information on how to plan an event as well as potential markets that can draw visitors seeking educational or training experiences.

Educational tourism is one of the niche markets that offers visitors different experiences other than just the sand, surf and sun, said Hawai'i Tourism Authority executive director Rex Johnson.

It has been "an important part of our marketplace, particularly from the Japan side. School outings to come to learn English or learn about America or even learn about tourism have been popular from time to time."

The market declined after Sept. 11, 2001, but there is some rebound in Japan, he said.

It's unclear how large the educational tourism market is in Hawai'i. Of the more than 6 million Hawai'i visitors last year, only 18,000 people said they came here to attend school, but that figure probably doesn't include visitors who attended seminars or participated in other educational activities, said state chief economist Pearl Imada Iboshi.

In any case, officials want the market to grow. Chew said Hawai'i's colleges and schools, the Bishop Museum, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts are among the resources that can be tapped.

"It could be a conference, it could be short seminars, it could be a collection of different groups getting together to develop (a program)," Chew said. "What we want to encourage is people to work together, not only within their organization but with these other organizations that are in the community to develop a rich program that can be attractive to a world audience."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.