Hawaii hopes to say 'aloha' to Gulf tourists

Hawaii is eager to tap into the Gulf tourism market and the Pacific island paradise has recruited a number of regional tourism ambassadors to help promote the US state to Arab holidaymakers. The Hawaii Tourism Association (HiTA) has linked up with the Unique Choice travel agency in Doha and the National Vocation Company in Saudi Arabia to market the US-run Pacific Ocean islands. HiTA has also appointed tourism ambassadors in both Gulf countries and will host a marketing event for Arab travel agents at the International Pow Wow conference in Los Angeles next month, with agents from Saudi, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman due to attend. “I am pleased to see we're now able to reach out to these high-spending visitors from the Gulf region. We hope the visitor industry in Hawaii will share our excitement and help us to make this event a success for everyone,” said Juergen Steinmetz, president of HiTA. “Currently, we are generating increasing travel from new regions around the globe. We have ambassadors appointed in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, Singapore, Colombia, Slovenia, Austria, Nepal, Russia, and are going through applications received from 88 countries,” he added. Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Saudi Airlines and Oman Air all have direct access to US gateways, with domestic onward flights to Hawaii.