ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

A Hawaii Tourism Japan (HTJ) held a trade show yesterday to highlight goods and services available to Japanese tourists how visit the Hawaii. HTJ along with counterparts in China, Korea, and Oceana was launched by the Hawaii Tourism Authority to highlight travel and vacations to the Islands. Japanese tourists are coveted because of their willingness to spend more than their Mainland counterparts.

The Japan trade show was held because of business concerns with the recent decline in Japanese visitors to Hawaii. The number has dropped by 3 percent from last year. Many factors are seen as contributing to the decline. High fuel charges are adding about $250 dollars to the ticket price and airlines have cut back on the number of direct flights from Japan, with a 10 percent decrease expected in flights this year.

In an interesting aside, Hawaii Superferry may team up with Watabe Wedding corp. to offer weddings on the Superferry.

In other new, Hawaiian airlines announced that it will start service from Honolulu to Manila three times a week starting in April. The airline will be the only domestic carrier to fly direct flights between the two cities. The expected costs of the flights is around $850 roundtrip. Last year over 170,000 people from the Philippines visited Hawaii.