The Hawai'i Tourism Authority will spend $3 million from an emergency fund to convince North American travelers that Hawai'i still offers a good value for a vacation.

The state tourism agency authorized the additional expenditure at a special meeting yesterday as Hawai'i's No. 1 industry works to rebound from a dip that followed the sudden closing of Aloha and ATA airlines and a spike in airfares, pushed up by rising jet fuel prices.

Domestic visitor arrivals were down 7.8 percent last week, compared with a year earlier. Hotel operators say summer bookings also are down in part because of the recent rise in airfares.

Travelers who could get a roundtrip ticket from the West Coast for less than $400 in March were paying between $700 and $800 by the third week of April.

The $3 million "is specifically to stabilize the market's perception of Hawai'i and Hawai'i's airfares," said David Uchiyama, HTA's director of tourism marketing.

Rex Johnson, HTA's president and CEO, said the additional image push also is getting a boost from another $1.5 million in cooperative marketing coming from the visitor industry.

Pleasant Holidays, for example, is selling package tours to Hawai'i and is already on the Web offering "five nights with air from $479 per person for a family of four" and kids' flights to Hawai'i for $110 for those booking summer travel before May 26.

The $3 million marketing campaign is part of a $5 million emergency fund authorized by the state Legislature. Last month, the HTA tapped that fund for nearly $459,473 to help 2,211 passengers stranded by the closing of Aloha and ATA, Uchiyama said.

The HTA's total budget for this year is $83 million. The HTA receives 34.2 percent of the state's hotel tax. The tax, which is 7.25 percent of a person's total hotel bill, generated $174.5 million last year.

Kelvin Bloom, president of ResortQuest Hawai'i, said his hotels felt the pinch that followed the airline shutdowns.

"We've experienced some cancellations," he said. "We've experienced some slowdown in the pace of future bookings."

Kehau Amorin, special projects manager of Panda Travel, said fares are high through the summer but may come down some in the fall.

"For summer, we're seeing $700 to $800 but by fall, they go to high $500 to mid $600," Amorin said. "There's a big demand and there's less seats in the marketplace."

The Aloha and ATA closures caused a 15 percent drop in the number of air seats available from the West Coast.

AIRFARES CALMING

Bloom is hopeful that an industry push that shows that deals can be found will keep visitors coming to Hawai'i.

"There's been a calming of airfares," Bloom said. "It's close to where it was pre-Aloha Airlines-ATA shutting down."

Cheryl Williams, regional vice president for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawai'i and French Polynesia, said pumping up marketing efforts is a key step to staying competitive in the global tourism market.

"We have seen a slowdown in advance booking pace compared to the same time last year," Williams said.

But she noted that Hawai'i is not the only destination feeling the higher fares. "Airfares to some of our key competitive destinations — Mexico, the Caribbean and Fiji — have also increased over the last 30 days for summer travel."

John Monahan, president of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, said the bureau is researching the best places to target marketing in the coming weeks. "We hope to overcome the concern over the cost of a Hawai'i vacation," he said.

'GREAT POTENTIAL'

State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said the fast push for more marketing in key areas has great potential. "The $3 million will help us to increase the bookings that we have for the summer months," Wienert said.

She is also looking to counteract a report by AAA, naming Hawai'i as the most expensive state in which to vacation. AAA said Hawai'i costs two adults an average of $793 a day for food and lodging alone.

Wienert said that rate was calculated off the published hotel room prices or what's known in the industry as "rack rates."

She pointed to state data that show for 2007 visitors spent $181.60 per person per day, far below the AAA estimate.

"There's no way that they spend that kind of money," she said. "You can come here for a lot less and have a wonderful time."

The survey said Hawai'i accommodations cost an average of $675 a night, compared with the national average of $164 per night.