From the Star Bulletin …
A marketing campaign to bring Japanese tourists back to Hawaii seeks to boost declines by luring tourists with shiny, portable ashtrays. The state-backed campaign, which began in June, seeks to correct misconceptions among Japanese tourists that you can’t smoke at all in Hawaii.
The portable ashtrays, which are white on the outside and silver inside, are branded with a flower logo and the words “Keep Hawaii Clean.” HTJ said it has had about 40,000 of the ashtrays made at a cost of about $1 each.
Since Hawaii adopted a more restrictive law on smoking late last year, travel industry professionals and tourists have blamed the restrictions in part for the depressed Japan visitor market. While the drop cannot be blamed entirely on the new smoking policy, many Japanese smokers, especially those on reward trips, and meeting planners have complained. Still, nonsmoking Japanese visitors — a slight majority in one recent survey — have said they love the new law.
The Smoke-Free Hawaii law, which went into effect in December, requires clear designation of areas where smoking is permitted, and bans smoking within 20 feet of doorways, windows and ventilation intakes in order to prevent secondhand smoke drifting into enclosed areas.
While many locations have adopted smoking restrictions, Hawaii’s use of the term “smoke-free” might be sending a false message that this state is tougher on smokers than other destinations, said Dave Erdman, president of PacRim Marketing, a firm specializing in Asian markets.
Japan tourists have been confused about Hawaii’s smoking legislation since an inaccurate news story in Japan on the topic last year
the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, said encouraging Japanese tourists to come to Hawaii and smoke seems to be counterintuitive.
“We shouldn’t give the message that aloha means smoking,”
Even some smokers have said that they are frustrated with HTJ’s new campaign.
“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on somebody that just got hit by a grenade,”
Maybe the tourism board should start stocking the Kaua’i Kolada cigarettes that offended Kaua’i residents a couple of years ago.
