October 2015:
In This Issue
A Message from HTA's President and CEO
Market Updates
U.S. Women's National Soccer Team & Fed Cup to Take Place in Hawaii
Cruise Industry Update: Enhancing Access to the Hawaiian Islands By Sea
Increased Airlift and New Routes Anticipated to Boost Visitor Arrivals from Emerging Markets
Save the Date for HTA's 2015 Winter Marketing Update
In the News
Save the Date
Oct. 23-24
(Kauai)

Oct. 29
(Maui)

Nov. 10-15
(Hawaii Island)

Dec. 6
(Maui)
Marketing Highlights


Track the Hokulea and Hikianalia's World Wide Voyage here
Like us on Facebook 
Like us on Facebook
 
Follow us on Twitter 
Follow us on Twitter

View our videos on YouTube 
Subscribe to us on YouTube
1801 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel (808) 973-2255 
Join Our Mailing List

A Message from HTA's President and CEO

Aloha,

As we head into the fourth quarter of the year, there continues to be a lot of activity in our visitor industry.

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to China to visit with our marketing partners and stakeholders to discuss how we can increase arrivals from China to our state. The U.S. Department of Commerce and Chinese National Tourism Administration recently declared 2016 as the U.S.-China Tourism Year, an initiative to grow tourism between the two nations. And we believe that by increasing our efforts to better position the Hawaiian Islands as an ideal vacation destination for Chinese travelers, we can support the overall efforts to grow arrivals from this market. Governor David Ige, a strong advocate for tourism, was also in China and we had the honor of having him attend some of our meetings to discuss the importance of attracting more Chinese visitors to our state.

Our team is also working to ensure that we have a presence in all of our major market areas. At the beginning of November, the HTA and our contractor in Europe will be attending the World Travel Market (WTM) in London. It is the leading global event for the travel industry and will provide us the opportunity to meet and network with travel industry professionals to better position the Hawaiian Islands in the European market.

We will continue to look for and participate in opportunities that will help to grow our presence internationally to ensure the long-term sustainability of our visitor industry.

Mahalo,

George D. Szigeti
HTA President and CEO
Market Updates 

VISITOR DATA

YTD through August                       2015               2014       %Chng

Visitor Expend. ($mil.)           $10,264.5          $9,959.1          3.1%

Visitor Arrivals                        5,848,212        5,619,958          4.1%

The full report is available here. 
 

AIRLIFT OUTLOOK

Oct. - Dec.                                  2015                2014      %Chng

TOTAL SEATS                      2,898,561        2,792,540        3.8%

Domestic                              1,983,171          1,886,710        5.1%

International                           915,390             905,830        1.1%

The full report is available here.

U.S. Women's National Soccer Team 
and Fed Cup to Take Place in Hawaii 
This month was an exciting month for Hawaii sports fans. The HTA and the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT), the reigning 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup champions, announced that it will play in Honolulu against Trinidad and Tobago on Dec. 6 at Aloha Stadium. This match up in Hawaii is the seventh stop of the Women's World Cup 10 city Victory Tour.

The game will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports GO at 3 p.m. HI time (8 p.m. ET). Tickets will go on sale on Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. HI time (4 p.m. ET) at ussoccer.com, by phone at 1-800-745-3000 and at all Ticketmaster ticket centers throughout Hawaii (including Walmart locations). Read more
Cruise Industry Update: Enhancing Access to the Hawaiian Islands by Sea
Hawaii's cruise industry provides visitors with an alternate way to see and experience the Hawaiian Islands. In 2014, there were 125 total cruise ships carrying 243,390 passengers that came to and toured the islands.

"Cruise ships provide visitors with a unique and comprehensive way to see the Hawaiian Islands, and experience the beauty of our natural environment on land and at sea," said George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO. "Coupled with the recent launch of the maritime vessel scheduling system and our new cruise development consultant that we hope to bring on in the coming months, we hope to better understand the benefits and the potential of the market." Read more
Increased Airlift and New Routes Anticipated to Boost Visitor Arrivals 
from Emerging Markets 
As an island state, airlift is vital to ensuring the success of Hawaii's visitor industry. In 2014, there were more than 11 million non-stop inbound seats from domestic and international markets servicing the state. This year, the HTA projected reaching a record 11.8 million air seats to the state, a 5.9 percent increase over last year.

Two new airlines, Virgin America and Jin Air, will begin flying to the Hawaiian Islands in 2015. The new routes from San Francisco and Incheon (Seoul), South Korea will help support demand from established routes. Virgin America will begin flying to Honolulu in November and Kahului in December and Jin Air will also begin service in December. Read more
Save the Date for HTA's 2015 Winter Marketing Update
The HTA and its global contractors representing the following regions: Oceania, China, Korea, Taiwan, Europe, Latin America, as well as the new Southeast Asia market, will be providing their 2016 marketing plan presentations. The Winter Marketing Update will take place at the Hawaii Convention Center Liliu Theater on Tuesday, Dec. 8 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Capacity is limited so registration is required to attend the 2015 Winter Marketing Update. For more information and to register, click here. 

The schedule is as follows:
  • 8:00-8:30 a.m. - Registration
  • 8:30-8:45 a.m. - Welcome remarks
  • 8:45-9:05 a.m. - China presentation
  • 9:05-9:25 a.m. - Taiwan presentation
  • 9:25-9:50 a.m. - Southeast Asia presentation
  • 9:50-10:05 a.m. - Q&A
  • 10:05-10:20 a.m. - Break
  • 10:20-10:40 a.m. - Korea presentation
  • 10:40-11 a.m. - Europe presentation
  • 11-11:20 a.m. - Oceania presentation
  • 11:20-11:35 a.m. - Q&A
  • 11:35-11:45 a.m. - Closing remarks and Pau
HTA recognizes the use of the 'okina ['] or glottal stop, one of the eight consonants of the (modern) Hawaiian language; and the kahakō[ā] or macron (e.g., in place names of Hawai'i such as Lāna'i). However, HTA respects the individual use of these markings for names of organizations and businesses. Due to technological limitations, this current communication may not include all Hawaiian diacritical markings.