Hawaii has a new plan, and it doesn’t involve the very visitors who continue to come despite even the worst of times. With two fresh marketing contracts just revealed, the state has quietly launched a multi-year effort to target tourism promotion in China and Taiwan.
This follows an already well-established pivot toward international markets. Governor Josh Green has personally led multiple delegations to Japan, including a visit to promote a “travel corridor” with biometric screening, expanded Global Entry access, and immigration pre-clearance at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
In February 2025, he signed an action plan with Japanese diplomats to ease visitor entry further. At the same time, Hawaii has supported retail and promotional campaigns in Japan, including pop-up shops and event appearances aimed at rebuilding the Japanese travel pipeline.
These announced initiatives mark a symbolic shift in who Hawaii is courting, and who it isn’t.
What the new contracts say about Hawaii’s direction.
Hawaii released separate RFPs for public relations and marketing work targeting China and Taiwan. They are worth a total of $1 million and are set to begin in January 2026, with the potential to run for five years. The contracts aim to reposition Hawaii as a premium, sustainable travel destination for Asian markets, while also helping to shift demand into off-peak seasons.
To qualify, firms must already be operating in the target region and submit detailed 2026 brand marketing plans that are tied to increased visitor spending and brand awareness. Hawaii wants to showcase its culture, people, scenery, volunteerism, and emerging festivals, echoing earlier Japan-facing campaigns.
What’s different this time isn’t just the markets. It’s the moment.
Why timing makes this more than a typical contract.
These new contracts are the first major strategic moves made since June 30, when the Hawaii Tourism Authority board was officially dismantled and oversight transferred directly to Governor Josh Green. With no board and no director in place, it’s fair to read these solicitations as coming straight from the top. And that makes the choice of focus, China and Taiwan, especially telling.
In our recent article No Board, No Director, No Plan: Who’s Steering Hawaii Travel Now?, we documented the abrupt political reshuffling that left Hawaii’s tourism strategy without its traditional checks and balances. The new Asia push appears to be one of the first directives under this new structure.
What happening in Hawaii’s core market?
In 2024, U.S. travelers accounted for more than 80% of all arrivals in Hawaii. But in the first half of 2025, something started to shift. As we reported in Hawaii’s Travel Priorities Shift Abroad While U.S. Tourists Lose Out, domestic visitors are now questioning the value, facing still higher prices, degraded airline service, and increasing signs that they’re no longer at the center of Hawaii’s strategy.
That concern is now showing up in the numbers. The state reports that May arrivals rose by just 1% over the previous year, with overall visitor counts still lagging far behind those of 2019. Softness in the U.S. East region and from Canada, paired with stagnation in the U.S. West, has triggered new concerns. Yet Hawaii’s solution isn’t to stabilize its most loyal segments, it’s to gamble on growth from overseas.
As we noted in Hawaii Travel Is Booming, Stalling, and Changing All at Once, the industry is now being pulled in opposite directions. Even as visitor spending ebbs and flows, booking patterns are shifting, and core markets are slipping.
That makes the timing of this foreign outreach more than a strategy; it’s a signal. And it raises a sharper question, as we asked in Hawaii Tourism Gamble: Can U.S. Visitors Fill This Void?: Is Hawaii hoping, at least in part, to move on from its core market?
Europe also received attention, but did U.S. travelers?
These China and Taiwan contracts follow similar moves in Europe. In 2023, Hawaii launched a multi-market promotional effort across the UK, Germany, and France. Just today, Hawaii updated its French language marketing. The theme in all of these places is focused on attracting “high-value, mindful travelers.” It’s the exact phrase now being used in the Asia contracts.
What’s missing is any comparable reinvestment in U.S. visitor engagement. While the marketing machine turns outward, residents on Maui are fighting to limit vacation rentals, resort fees are climbing, and access to beaches and trails is becoming more restricted.
What Hawaii visitors are noticing and saying.
The emotional undertone in our reader comments has been building for months. Many longtime travelers say it feels like Hawaii no longer wants them. One described the shift this way: Hawaii seems happy to let U.S. visitors fill budget gaps but leaves them out of future planning.
Another reader asked why, after all the energy spent on Japan, China, and Taiwan, there isn’t equal respect shown to the Americans who return year after year.
There’s no question that diversification and attracting international travelers is a smart long-term strategy. However, when that strategy is accompanied by visible frustration from domestic visitors, the optics become essential, primarily since the campaigns are funded by visitor taxes largely paid by U.S. travelers.
The symbolism behind $1 million.
To be clear, $1 million over two contracts isn’t a huge sum in the world of global destination marketing. But symbolically, it says everything. At a time when many in Hawaii’s visitor industry are struggling to hit occupancy targets and fall bookings are declining, the state’s decision to channel energy and attention toward two markets that currently account for almost none of Hawaii’s arrivals feels strategic, but detached.
The message isn’t just that Hawaii wants more Chinese and Taiwanese tourists. It’s that these new travelers are being prioritized as the next big thing, while the visitors who never stopped coming are being left to feel like an afterthought.
What happens next.
Bids for the contracts are due August 8. Awards are expected by late August, with work beginning January 1, 2026. If these campaigns succeed in bringing meaningful growth from Asia, Hawaii could begin to diversify its visitor base. But if they fall flat, and domestic visitors continue to drift, the state may find itself again trying to rebuild a relationship that already often feels taken for granted.
For now, Hawaii is all in on Asia. And visitors are paying attention.
Photo Credit: Beat of Hawaii at Hilton Hawaiian Village.
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Are all the non-US travelers paying all the various visitor fees that always seem to going up? We feel that being US travelers who have supported Hawaii with many yearly multiple trips to the islands for more than 50 years we are less welcomed currently. Now that costs to come to and enjoy the islands is skyrocketing, we are now going to Mexico much more often. Maybe a 2 week once a year due to air fares and add-on’s. We are leaving the mainland from Southern California, I can’t imagine what it must cost from the east coast or Europe. Sad.
Snubs the American middle class and plans to appeal to the Chinese. Hmm, who would have guessed?
Good luck with the exchange rate of the yen vs the US dollar. Chinese and individuals from Taiwan expect good deals for their money. Dirty Hotels, poor service and overpriced meals just don’t cut it. Do you really think US mainlander’s like being looked at as just filling in the gaps? IMO one word comes to mind. Boycott.
I don’t understand your point. Other than a dip in Maui arrivals, US Mainland tourists keep coming to O’ahu, Kauai, and the Big Island. So, why dedicate resources to the one market that doesn’t need it? Deploy this admittedly small amount to other markets that might hold previously untapped potential.
Aloha Guys,
Mahalo for the article, Hawaii Goes All In On Asia Next While U.S. Tourists Drift. Yes, it is disappointing that Gov Green is focusing on China and foreign markets. I believe China and foreign markets see us as “Ugly Americans” and actually pity us having Trump as President. I would like to see us promote America seeing American destinations emphasizing uniting us and support and appreciation of our our own aina from CONUS and especially beyond because Puerto Rico and Alaska could use help too.
This’ll work out well.
You all get what you voted for…. Enjoy
Visitors from China and Taiwan have a very different style of travel. They generally don’t speak English , travel in groups, and rarely as an individual couple or family. They rarely stay in stvr’s, but head for hotels. They also love to shop in high end designer stores, most of which are foreign owned. They tend to be high spenders, so it’s not hard to see why Maui is pursuing their business. I’ll never forget the comment the MC made when a large group of Chinese tourists arrived at the luau we were at. “Have you come to buy the place or eat here?”
Chinese tourists can be as “respectful” as mainland US tourists.
P.S. – better make sure the Chinese “tourists” don’t overstay their visas!
If you didn’t like the manners of US mainlanders, just wait until you encounter mainland Chinese! They can be too much!
Make way for all the selfie sticks + preening. They also don’t believe in waiting for their turn – just push to the front of any line.
Typical shortsightedness from the Green administration. I wonder if anyone in his administration actually has a marketing degree. It appears to me that he just wanted to take some vacation time in Japan on the Hawaiian people’s dime, rather than focusing on the people that bring real tourist revenue to the states, i.e., mainland and Canadian visitors. But…. the residents keep voting the same idiotic people to govern them, thinking that the next time things will be different. (The definition of lunacy.)
Last time I was in Oahu, Sep ‘24, lots of Japanese are vacationing there without having to do an ad campaign. If I had my way, I would not push for Chinese so much. I like Hawaii and will be back very soon, regardless of what the gov says or does. But you’re right, Green seems like he has a bone to pick with mainlanders, even though we bring lots of $$$$ with us. And yes he and his minions are obliviously shortsighted.
Josh Green is from the mainland. But if he can surround himself with enough non-mainland looking people, he thinks he becomes “local”.