Hawaii Tourism Oceania yesterday hosted Australian media for its annual Aloha Down Under event at Dedes on the Wharf in Sydney's Walsh Bay. The lunchtime event commenced with a mini roadshow and also included musical interludes and Hawaiian hula dancing.
The event featured presentations from the tourism boards of the individual islands that comprise the US state of Hawaii. Attendees were encouraged to view Hawaii not as an single destination, but to focus on the offerings of each individual island.
In line with this approach, the Hawaii Tourism Authority's most recent campaign has allocated a catchword to each island to make its offering clearer to media, travel agents and travellers, with the focus squarely on multiple isle visitation.
Elsewhere, visitation numbers to Hawaii from both Australia and New Zealand have spiked considerably over the past year with greater awareness and increased airline capacity credited for the lift. Average length of visitor stay remains steady at around 9.5 nights per person. Visitor spend per day remains high, with the figure around $US250 ($267).
Hawaiian Airlines also celebrated their upcoming 10 year anniversary of Australian services, which falls later this month. Having launched in 2004 with four weekly flights, the carrier now flies 11 times weekly from Australia to Honolulu.
