President Obama announced a travel initiative by executive order that offers major benefits for Hawaii, which includes the easing of VISA processing from China and a possible VISA waiver for Taiwan.
The VISA-easing announcement by President Obama was just what the Hawaii Tourism Industry was hoping to hear.
"So today I am directing the State Department to accelerate our ability to process VISAs by 40 percent in China and in Brazil this year," President Obama said.
The China connection promises huge returns for The Islands, where Hawaii already is among the top destinations. The president's executive order also nominates Taiwan for the VISA waiver program.
"It's exactly what we asked for during the week of APEC with the state department and the department of commerce, and president obama delivered for the united states, he also delivered big time for hawaii," Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz said.
More than 70,000 people from China visited Hawaii last year, spending the most of any market segment. Their numbers were already expected to grow to about 125,000 this year before the president's VISA easing announcement.
"The average chinese visitor spends $380 dollars a day, and it will add hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy if it's easier for chinese to come here," said Mike McCartney of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
About 16,000 people came to Hawaii from Taiwan last year, a number that could grow exponentially as it did when Japan, Philippines and South Korea were approved VISA waivers. Hawaii's hospitality industry leaders say they're ready to welcome all the anticipated growth from China and Taiwan.
"We've been ramping up for a long time, and certainly apec gave us a good opportunity to demonstrate that particular skills and abilities we have in this regard so we're ready," said Hufi Hannemann, on the Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Association.
As for airlift to get them all here, Hawaii receives a twice-weekly direct flight from Shanghai on China Eastern and no direct flights from Taiwan. But more flights are expected to sign on as the market demands.
"If we can fill the planes that are already coming, then naturally people are going to want to make more money and fill additional planes and we'll get those flights that we so desperately want," Schatz said.
"Airlines will be interested, hotels will be interested, and ultimately this is great for our visitor industry," McCartney said.
