Hawai'i tourism officials are looking forward to an expected upswing in South Korean tourists in the wake of the much-anticipated announcement this week by President Bush that the visa waiver program will expand in January.

That means there will be fewer travel restrictions on visitors from South Korea and six European nations — and makes them a bigger source of visitors for an industry that has been in a slump.

Last year, there were 41,869 visitors from South Korea, and tourism officials predict that number will double within two years. "We are very pleased that it's moving," said David Uchiyama, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's marketing chief.

According to the HTA, in 2007 South Korea visitors stayed 11 days on average and spent $217 each per day. Visitors from the Mainland spend about $162 a day.

Government and private industry officials in Hawai'i have been gearing up for the expected increase with more Web sites in Korean, more brochures and an increased emphasis on cultural nuances among travel professionals, he said. "The industry as a whole has spent a lot of time educating for this and preparing," he said.

Canada's tourist numbers skyrocketed when it included South Korea in its visa-waiver program in 1994, with an 81 percent increase in arrivals the first year.

South Korea is an especially promising market because of the large number of people there who like to travel. Last year, a study found that 13 million South Korea residents traveled overseas out of the entire population of 48 million. That's 28 percent of the total population.

Bush also lifted visa requirements for citizens of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The waiver program allows citizens from participating countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.

Uchiyama said he'll go with Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona to South Korea in mid-November. He said the Korean Air flights also will create another opportunity for travel access out of Japan.

At Marriott Resorts Hawaii, Ed Hubennette, vice president of North Asia, Hawai'i and South Pacific operations, said the state has a lot of appeal for South Korean visitors.

"They love beaches, golf and culture. Hawai'i is almost the perfect destination for that market," he said. He doesn't see a huge need for change to adapt to serving these new visitors.

"They're very sophisticated travelers," Hubennette said. "They're great shoppers."

In past years, Hawai'i had come to rely on a steady stream of high-spending visitors from Japan. That market has been on the decline in recent years nationally as well as in Hawai'i, where the number of visitors from Japan is expect to dip this year to 1.28 million from a heyday high of 2.2 million a year.

Nationally, the Travel Industry Association praised Bush's announcement and said it could result in "hundreds of thousands of new visitors annually."

"Expansion of the visa waiver program is a momentous leap forward for the American economy and proof that we can simultaneously strengthen America's security and welcome additional visitors," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association.

He described the move, expected to take effect in January, as an important step in reversing the significant decline in overseas travel to the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2007, the United States welcomed 2 million fewer overseas visitors than in 2000 — despite an extraordinarily weak U.S. dollar and an additional 35 million long-haul travelers worldwide.