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Hawaii Tourism Authority invests in international markets to draw back tourists

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Honolulu Airport roadways

Roads leading to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

HONOLULU (Island News) -- In Hawaii, you can't talk about tourism without Japan, but since the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese tourist numbers have not recovered.

In November 2024, we actually saw a decrease when compared to 2023: 60,684 visitors compared to 63,416. When compared to 2019, more than double at 131,536.

“Looking at Japan, we really have to say at least through 2026 mainly because a lot of it relies on the exchange rate issue and as they become accustomed to traveling again, those safety issues, looking for value,” explained Daniel Nahoopii, Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Interim President and CEO.

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Hawaii Tourism Authority's Interim President and CEO Daniel Nahoopii explains how international tourists from locations like Japan can make a return with help from the state investing in these relationships.

While the U.S. market is what's keeping Hawaii tourism afloat, visitors from the U.S. don't tend to spend as much on our local economy.

“So that's why we have to keep building back the international visitors. It reflects in what they spend. Japan is still our largest Asian market. We are putting efforts in Korea and Oceania. Particularly in Korea, we are working on additional relationships with our travel agencies,” Nahoopii said.

According to the latest data, international air travel from South Korea is experiencing a strong recovery and Hawaii continues to be a favored romance destination for Koreans. In November, 74 scheduled flights with nearly 21,000 seats arrived in Honolulu from Seoul. In 2025, Air Premia, a new carrier seeing growth in Korea, is set to launch a direct flight to Honolulu, adding to the daily flights by Korean Air and five weekly flights by Asiana airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.

Another big market is Taiwan where Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke recently traveled to continue Hawaii's sister-state relationship.

“That idea of sister state and sister city has worked well in terms of tourism recovery as well. There is a built-in tie-in network so travel agencies will help bring some of those employees and residents to Hawaii knowing the relationship and they will be hosted,” Nahoopii said.

Lastly, there's Europe.

“U.K., Germany and Switzerland. We recently did a European mission tour and it's been very successful and they are happy because we haven't been in Europe since the pandemic. There are many Europeans that want to travel and they make the long distance travel because besides us, they go to Fiji, Thailand, etc. because they have the long vacation stays,” Nahoopii added.

Looking ahead to 2025, HTA looks to make continued strides. Using domestic travel to give us the needed boost now, while playing the long game when it comes to the international market.

Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com

Weekend Morning Anchor

After nearly 10-years away, this local girl is home! In November 2021, Lia started at KITV as the weekend GMH anchor and a weekday reporter. The 2011 Kamehameha Kapālama graduate worked all across the country and even overseas before finding her way home.

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