Unless your clients with young families live on the West Coast,
they're probably not great prospects for Hawaii vacations.
That's the blunt conclusion of a research firm retained by the
Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.
The firm, Longwoods International of Toronto, presented its
findings to the HVCB with unusually frank advice to concentrate on
marketing to singles and couples.
Longwood president Bill Siegel told the Hawaii promoters "don't
waste your dollars on younger families outside the West
Coast...simply traveling on long-haul trips is something families
do a lot less of."
Want to read more about the HVCB study?
Click here.
The research firm cited two factors that appear to affect the
decision by younger families to go elsewhere: the cost of the
airfare from interior gateways and the perception that there might
not be enough family-oriented activities in Hawaii.
I understand the first objection, but the second one strikes me
as way offbase. When my sons were ages 10 and 7, I took them for
two weeks to Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island and there was more than
enough to do.
My kids found just walking along the street in Waikiki
fascinating, not to mention the Pearl Harbor cruise and a day at
the Polynesian Cultural Center. And when sightseeing tired them,
they were content to enjoy the hotel pool and other activities.
Yet David Carey of Outrigger Hotels and Resorts agrees that
there is a "perception that there isn't enough to do here, that we
are activity-short."
Nonetheless, while Carey agreed that some families found Hawaii
vacations too costly, his group isn't about to abandon the family
market.
Many Hawaii properties offer free stays to children under 18 and
as well as summer programs featuring activities for children.
But Longwood's Siegel says that on a nationwide basis, "younger
families dropped off the face of the earth" in favor of singles and
couples.
If you're determined to work the family market, he says, target
families with school-age kids rather than toddlers.
The research is valuable input for Hawaii promoters including
travel agencies. The financial reality of the cost of travel to
Hawaii must be taken into account.
But I wish I could tell every parent with young kids they should
save up and go anyway. Their kids will never forget it.