The Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau is launching a $4.5 million marketing campaign today to promote this year’s reduced cost of vacationing in Hawai‘i over last year’s prices. Due to rapidly declining visitor arrival and spending numbers over the summer,
The Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau is launching a $4.5 million marketing campaign today to promote this year’s reduced cost of vacationing in Hawai‘i over last year’s prices.
Due to rapidly declining visitor arrival and spending numbers over the summer, the peak season, many vendors are offering discounts, specials and value-added deals.
The bureau’s multi-media campaign will direct consumers to a new Web site, GoHawaii.com/Value, which lists travel packages at deeply discounted savings.
“These packages are good news for travelers who may have been deferring a vacation to Hawai‘i because of concerns about the economy,” John Monahan, HVCB president and CEO, said. “We are aggressively communicating this message with an extremely targeted integrated approach utilizing publicity, promotions, advertising and online media.”
The campaign is designed to generate vacation bookings immediately through first quarter 2009 due to concerns about major drop-offs in travel during that period.
HVCB’s new Web site will serve as a free market platform listing the various Hawai‘i vacation packages being offered to consumers in North America.
In conjunction with the campaign, HVCB is adding increased marketing emphasis in eight top U.S. markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Chicago and New York City.
Print advertising, online advertising and media publicity promoting the deals will be launched today in the targeted cities. Next week, Monahan and Jay Talwar, HVCB’s senior vice president of marketing, will bring the message to news media in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C.
The $4.5 million campaign is being funded with support from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and travel industry partners.
• For more on Kaua‘i efforts to boost visitor arrivals, see “Council briefed on tourism slump” on page C1 of the business section.
