HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB) set
dates, times and places for the next three Experience Aloha Hawaii
on Tour mall shows.
Sept. 8 to 10 at the Eastridge Mall, San Francisco.Sept. 22 to 24 at the Vintage Faire Mall, San Francisco.Oct. 6 to 8 at the Alderwood Mall, Seattle.According to an HVCB newsletter, the mall tour is "designed to
help [agents] close the sale by increasing awareness and desire for
the islands of Aloha."
The mall tour started in January in Chicago. Travel agents get a
special sneak preview of the event Fridays at 8 a.m. They also will
receive a destination update and a continental breakfast. The
program usually runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The show offers consumers a 360-degree virtual reality movie
designed to get agents and potential visitors excited about the
destination. The movie was created by Internet Pictures
Corporation.
Agents and consumers see the movie by holding an eyepiece to
their eyes, said Gail Chew, vice president of marketing services
for the HVCB. The movie features a helicopter tour of Hawaii in
which viewers can see all around them.
"It's like you're in a bubble," said Chew. She said the exhibit
features 10 eyepieces, and the movie lasts four minutes.
"It's just like being there visually," said Warren Winstanley,
vice president of M3 Marketing Group, the company that put the mall
tour together for the HVCB.
"You fly over the Arizona Memorial [in Honolulu] and you can
look behind you, then you fly right down the gun turret on the USS
Missouri," said Winstanley.
Also part of the mall show are demonstrations and performances
by Hawaii chefs, entertainers and crafts people; video displays of
the islands, and a golf simulator.
To reserve space for the 8 a.m. mall tour preview, call (800)
853-5891.