Hawaii Tourism
Association Identified Russia as Emerging Market for Hawaii
The Hawaii Tourism Association (HiTA) has announced it has been successful in
its goal to actively identify non-traditional markets that could be potentially
lucrative for in-bound tourism for Hawaii.
“From the beginning, and one of the reasons why we started HiTA in the first
place was because of overwhelming response that we have received after we did
our initial survey utilizing eTurboNews’ readers. Some of the responses
were quite predictable, while others were surprising,” said HiTA President
Juergen Thomas Steinmetz.
According to Mr. Steinmetz, Russia has been identified as a market that could
potentially bring in big business for Hawaii tourism. He said Hawaii can be accessed
by the Russian market both through the mainland US, and also through Korea, Japan
and with Hainan Air starting also through Beijing. He added that the Russian market’s
per day spending overseas is one of the highest of any tourism-spending nation.
That is why HiTA has sought the help of various organizations and entities, including
the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Council. “Embassies and Consulates
in more than 85 locations are ready to assist Hawaii with data, active support
about Hawaii’s most important export, which is tourism,” adds Mr.
Steinmetz, who has recently been selected as the chair of the subcommittee for
tourism and member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Council for the US
Pacific Region. This initiative is certainly an opportunity for Hawaii’s
tourism industry, Mr. Steinmetz said. “HITA with the assistance of the Commercial
Section of the US Embassy in Moscow invites Hawaii tourism business to team up.”