Playing Isle's China card
By Jaymes Song
Associated Press
Hawai'i officials are hoping their diligent efforts to lure people from China to the Islands pay off as the representatives from the United States and the world's most populous nation meet this week to discuss visa issues and easing of travel restrictions.
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Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
he meetings, which aim to strengthen ties between the two nations via tourism and to discuss ways to increase the number of visitors from China to the United States, begin today in Beijing, U.S. officials said.
Both U.S. and Chinese governments have policies that limit arrivals of Chinese visitors. Last year, 34,172 Chinese visited Hawai'i, not including 5,619 from Hong Kong and 16,159 from Taiwan.
They involve representatives from the U.S. departments of Commerce, State and Homeland Security with their Chinese counterparts.
Gov. Linda Lingle, who last month spent 10 days in China and South Korea on a similar mission, spoke with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Services Douglas Baker last week and expressed Hawai'i's strong interest in easing travel restrictions that prevent many Chinese from visiting the United States for either business or tourism.
"Clearly, he has an understanding of how much we would like to be involved in this process, and that we have some ideas that could be helpful for them to consider as a protection for the nation's security and yet to facilitate the free flow of people of China," Lingle said.
Hawai'i tourism officials are also scheduled to meet with Baker this week in China.
"This is critically important" for Hawai'i's long-term financial future, Lingle said.
Baker told Lingle that an estimated 40 million of China's 1.3 billion people are now financially able to travel to the United States, "and they are of sufficient means that they will go back as well," she said. "Every year that goes by, that number is increasing dramatically."
Hawai'i, already the top U.S. vacation destination for Japan, won't get all of the visitors from China, but even a small percentage would be a boon to the Islands' tourism industry, said Michael Merner, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Asia, the agency hired by the state to market the Islands in China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Last year, 34,172 Chinese visited Hawai'i, not including 5,619 from Hong Kong and 16,159 from Taiwan, according to state figures.
But there were a total of 27 million outbound Chinese travelers last year, Merner said.
"So we're getting 34,000 out of 27 million trips, so you can see we're just scratching surface as far as potential is concerned," said Merner, who is meeting with Baker in Beijing and Tokyo.
By 2020 the World Tourism Organization is projecting that rapidly developing China will have 100 million outbound tourists.
Currently, the visa process for Chinese travelers to enter the United States is difficult and costly. It averages 52 days, requires an interview and costs $100 per applicant.
"The hurdles are pretty significant. We're hoping Homeland Security will go to China and reassess the situation," Merner said, adding that the United States approves only 70 percent of the visa applications, a statistic that he said needs to be improved.
"Since we're on the marketing side, we're trying to get as many people to Hawai'i as we can. So that's a major issue," he said.
The United States' travel restrictions have already cost Hawai'i. A Chinese insurance group this year canceled its plans for a one-week convention in Honolulu because of visa problems.
The Fifth World Chinese Life Insurance Congress had planned to bring 3,200 people from China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia to Honolulu in August. The group was expected to produce $17.3 million in visitor spending and $1.4 million in state taxes.
Tourism officials said many attendees were single men in the 25-to-35 age group — deemed to be potential flight risks.
Hawai'i officials are also hoping China will grant the United States "approved destination status," making it easier for the Chinese to travel here as tourists, not only for business, education and official government affairs.
China has placed 91 countries on its list of approved travel destinations, including many European nations, Australia, Canada and the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands.
Merner said there's a huge push worldwide to attract visitors from China.
"Once (approved destination status) is approved and visa issues are solved, Hawai'i would be well positioned to take a significant share in China," Merner said.
