The US State of Hawaii signed an agreement with China on
Monday that it hopes will boost travel to the islands and that
Beijing hopes will win it access to Hawaii's tourism management
expertise.
"The agreement helps us to continue to spread the word in China
about Hawaii," Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said. "When they think
of a place to visit, we'd like them to think about Hawaii."
Vice Premier Wu Yi
said at the ceremony that Hawaii had important expertise in the
fields of tourism planning, management and personnel training. Wu
made a stop at the islands on her way to Washington for bilateral
trade talks.
These skills could "serve as valuable reference for the Chinese
tourism industry," she said.
Hawaii is eager to lure more of China's increasingly prosperous
international travelers to support the state's tourism
industry.
In 2004, the number of Chinese visitors to the state had already
risen by 34.5 percent, to 34,216 travelers, from the year
before.
But Hawaii captured only a fraction of the estimated 27 million
Chinese who traveled overseas that year.
Japan is the single largest source of foreign tourists to
Hawaii, with 1.48 million Japanese visiting the islands in
2004.
Lingle and Shao Qiwei, the chairman of the China National
Tourism Administration, signed the document.
According to the agreement, the two sides will facilitate travel
between China and the US. It also outlines a program for Chinese
tourism industry professionals to study in Hawaii.
There are obstacles, however, to any immediate increase in
visitor numbers to Hawaii. The US has not been granted Approved
Destination Status (ADS), which means that travel agencies are not
authorized to conduct tours for Chinese travelers. The majority of
visitors to the US are businessmen and students.
This is a disadvantage for Hawaii because 70 percent of China's
outbound travelers prefer packaged tours with local travel
agencies, according to statistics.
As of the end of March, 117 countries have been given ADS
by China's State Council. Of these, domestic travel agencies have
developed approved tours to 81.
(China Daily April 5, 2006)