HAWAI‘I TOURISM AUTHORITY SELECTS BRANDSTORY ASIA TO REPRESENT THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IN CHINA

April 18, 2016

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SHANGHAI – The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), the state’s tourism agency, has announced that it has selected a new marketing contractor, BRANDSTORY Asia, to provide destination representation services for the Hawaiian Islands in China.

Headquartered in Shanghai, BRANDSTORY Asia is an award-winning travel representation company. As charismatic storytellers, the team will employ a strategic mix of airline and travel trade partnerships as well as consumer marketing via advertising, PR and social media programs to increase the desire for and actual travel to the Hawaiian Islands. BRANDSTORY’s offices are based in the key gateway cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore, with new offices planned in Chengdu and Malaysia.

“The popularity of the Hawaiian Islands with wealthy Chinese holiday makers continues to soar, thanks to the 10 year multiple entry visas and increment of flights supported by Air China, China Eastern Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines,” said George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO. “We look forward to working with BRANDSTORY Asia to tap on the opportunity that the China market provides.”

Said Reene Ho-Phang, MD of BRANDSTORY Asia, “Our team is honored to be appointed by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority. We bring forth our wealth of knowledge on the rapidly emerging outbound China travel market having worked with destination and travel industry leaders such as Brand USA, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Capital Region USA, Destination DC, Qatar Tourism Authority, The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor, Universal Studios Hollywood and Virginia Beach.”

The number of Chinese visitors to Hawai‘i has risen year-on-year. In 2014, the Hawaiian Islands welcomed 160,077 visitors from the China market contributing $408.6 million in visitor spending.

BRANDSTORY Asia’s contract will commence on 1 January 2016.