From Liu Min
In today’s increasingly globalized world, tourism has become a significant force driving local economic development. Hawaii, a tropical paradise in the Pacific Ocean, attracts the attention of tourists from all over the world, with its unique natural scenery and rich cultural heritage. In the face of China’s huge outbound tourism market, how Hawaii can better attract and retain Chinese middle-class tourists has become a question worth pondering.
With the improvement of economic conditions, Chinese middle and upper-income families have increasingly higher demands for quality of life. Education, healthcare and tourism have become important areas of consumption. In terms of outbound tourism, Chinese tourists’ footprints have spread all over the world, from traditionally popular destinations like Europe and America, to emerging Southeast Asia and Africa.
TravelDaily.cn recently published the “Report on China’s Tourism Consumption Trends: Reviewing 2024 and Looking Forward to 2025”. According to the report, China’s outbound tourism market in 2024 has almost recovered from the pandemic, with the number of outbound tourists reaching 130 million for the whole year, about 80% of that in 2019 (pre-pandemic). It is worth noting that the main force behind outbound tourists are China’s middle and high-income groups, with people aged between 31 to 40 and above 56 comprising the majority of short-term outbound trips.
In terms of destination preferences, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia are the popular nearby destinations, while the United States, some European countries and Australia are the popular choices for distant destinations.
However, in recent years, due to the fluctuations in Sino-US relations, the image of the United States in China has somewhat soured, which has also indirectly affected Chinese tourists’ willingness to visit the United States. Donald Trump, who is about to take office, recently mentioned that “China and the United States can cooperate to solve all the problems in the world”. This was his statement at a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago in December of 2024. In the current context, this statement is obviously rather unusual. How can the US show goodwill to China and attract more Chinese tourists to visit the United States, especially Hawaii? It should be noted that the spending power of Chinese tourists is not to be underestimated.
In May 2024, the 14th US-China Tourism High-Level Dialogue was held in Xi’an in China. According to the data released at the event, in 2019, approximately 92 thousand Chinese tourists visited Hawaii, spending an average of $340 to $370 per person per day, contributing $254 million to the local economy and supporting 2,600 jobs in Hawaii.
According to Caijing, a Chinese economy magazine, Daniel Nahoopii, the chief administrative officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority held talks with officials from the US Embassy in China during the event. He expressed the hope of increasing flights between Hawaii and the Chinese mainland. Direct flights between Beijing and Hawaii or Shanghai and Hawaii used to be available before the pandemic, but now all the flights need transfers in Japan or Korea. The shortest route is from Beijing to Tokyo, and then changes flight to Honolulu, which takes 11 hours. Most of the routes take the passenger more than 15 hours.
Far from the Chinese mainland, it’s quite surprising that Hawaii is on several different editions of Chinese people’s island wish lists, among several other hot-spots such as the Maldives and Korea’s Jeju Island, on social media. As one of the islands that Chinese tourists dream of visiting, Hawaii boasts unique natural resources and rich tourism resources.
However, to truly capture the wallets of Chinese middle- and high-income tourists, it’s quite worthwhile for Hawaii to make efforts in the following areas:
Continue to call for simple visa process for Chinese tourists to Hawaii, and direct flights between major Chinese cities and Honolulu. Once problems like visas and direct flights get solved, things may improve very quickly. Japan has recently eased visa rules for Chinese travelers, newly launching 10-year multiple entry visas for Chinese travelers. Direct flights between big cities of Japan and China are always available.
Strengthen marketing in China. Hawaii can fully utilize Chinese social media and online platforms to showcase its unique natural scenery and cultural charm through exquisite pictures, videos, and vivid descriptions. Additionally, it can invite well-known Chinese vloggers and influencers to experience Hawaii and share their travel stories to attract more attention and interest.
Improve tourism service quality. To meet the needs and habits of Chinese tourists, Hawaii could provide more convenient services. For instance, it can set up Chinese service windows at airports, hotels, and major tourist attractions, offer Chinese-speaking tour guides and Chinese-language travel guides. Hawaii has also been highly recognized by providing payment methods such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, which need to be emphasized on the tourism promotions to the Chinese market.
With the rise of the ‘silver-hair economy’, an increasing number of Chinese elderly people are choosing outbound travel as their leisure activity. Chinese elderly people not only have stable pensions but also have positive living habits. Many elderly people between the ages of 60 and 80 have both money and time and are willing to travel around the world with a few friends. Hawaii can launch tourism products suitable for the elderly, such as health and wellness vacations and cultural experiences, to meet their needs. At the same time, it should enhance measures to ensure the safety and comfort of elderly tourists during their travels.
Strengthen cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States. Hawaii can host various cultural and festival events and invite Chinese artists and cultural experts to participate, promoting the exchange and integration of Chinese and American cultures. This will help enhance Hawaii’s image and appeal among Chinese tourists. The upcoming Chinese Spring Festival is a great opportunity to hold a cultural festival, making Chinese tourists feel at home and allowing them to share the phrase “I wish you a happy Spring Festival from Hawaii!” on social media with their friends and family. And just imagine, that verse can be crazily reposted by millions of Chinese, bringing flocks of visitors to Hawaii.
According to a report by the UK’s Financial Times, it is estimated that by 2025, Chinese outbound tourists will spend 255.4 billion US dollars for the year. By then, the Chinese outbound tourism market will be nearly twice the size of the US market. This demonstrates the huge potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market and that Chinese tourists are ready to spend. It’s just a matter of who has the ability and tactics to attract them.
“I think that despite the fact that maybe we are facing some challenges in the relationship between the U.S. and China, often times, when the going gets tough, there is the biggest opportunity for business,” according to Roberta Lipson, founder of United Family Healthcare and Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce in China on The Bridge to China Podcast on December 4th, 2024. As one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, Hawaii should take advantage of this opportunity, strengthen tourism cooperation and exchanges with China, and jointly promote prosperous development. –The Author is also a Reporter for CGTN
