Pacific Business News - article

Think about these questions while you read the article below:

• Why is the traffic so horrendous in Kailua town?
• Why can't we find parking at Kailua Beach?
• Yes, there's a tremendous amount of wear and tear on our local roads with tour buses traveling our residential streets!  Is it fair that WE, as taxpayers, foot the cost to repair and maintain these roads?
• Many of you have inquired about the hundreds of Japanese tourists that deluge our local beaches and town, asking what can be done?

Does anyone know:

• Who do we can contact to put an end to this illegal busing of tourists to our community?
• Any recommendations on land use attorney?

 Please contact us!

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October 29, 2010 

Kailua merchants get big lift from Japanese visitors

Bused in from Waikiki, they generate millions of dollars for local economy

    

By Janis L. Magin

Seven years ago, Pablo Gonzalez was one of the first merchants in Kailua to hang

a Japanese menu in the window of his Lanikai Juice store and start advertising

in Japanese magazines.

Gonzalez saw a market for his fresh-fruit juices and smoothies, despite its location

in a suburban beach town in Windward Oahu, a mountain away from Waikiki.

Over the years, Lanikai Juice developed a following among the Japanese visitors

to Hawaii who rented cars or navigated Honolulu's bus system to get there. These

days, the store can see up to 200 Japanese customers in a day, and most come

by tour bus.

In April, JTB began offering a four-hour daily tour of Kailua, four times a day. It starts

at Kailua Beach Park and ends behind Longs Drug Store and Macy's, where the

tour bus parks and visitors scatter on foot, mostly in pairs, for "free time" to shop

and dine in local stores and restaurants.

While other tour companies also bring Japanese visitors in mini buses and vans,

JTB was one of the few to get the blessing of Kailua's largest commercial

land owner, Kaneohe Ranch, which allows the 56-passenger JTB tour bus

to park in the rear of the parking structure behind Longs while its clients roam

the town for their hour-and-a-half of free time.

That free time has amounted to substantial sales for merchants and eateries in

a town where most locals shop and dine only on weekends, and during an economic

downturn that has sapped local residents' budgets.

"It came at the right time," Gonzalez said. "The right time was when the economy

was down."

JTB estimates that the tour averages 5,500 people per month, and has brought

approximately 33,000 visitors to Kailua during the six months from April through

September.

"It was a huge boost, because this was rather a slow summer for Kailua," said

Carol Jacobs, who owns the Red Bamboo home furnishings store on Kailua Road,

one of two-dozen Kailua merchants who offer discounts and promotions on the

JTB map of Kailua that's handed out on the tour. "It made a huge difference for us."

While JTB brings in the most visitors on a regular basis, it is not alone. Jalpak

International and other smaller tour companies also bring Japanese visitors to

Kailua to visit the beach and spend their free time - and money - in Kailua town.

Based on the number of buses and capacity, an estimated 178,000 Japanese

visitors are coming to Kailua each year. And based on the spending habits of

those visitors, they are contributing about $15 million per year to Kailua's economy,

said Will Page, president of Page Marketing, which publishes a map of Kailua in Japanese.

While talk around Kailua has focused on Target taking over the Don Quijote lease

for a new big-box store, few complain about the tours, which operate only during

the daytime and involve no overnight stays.

"When people talk about Japanese visitors, they talk about Waikiki," Gonzalez said.

"Kailua won't change. They don't stay here, not at night. They come, they dine, 5 o'clock,

everybody's gone."

Kailua beach was the first draw for Japanese visitors, especially after Stephen P.

Leatherman, director of Florida International University's Laboratory for Coastal Research,

also know as "Dr. Beach," named Lanikai beach the top beach in the United States in 1996

and chose Kailua Beach Park two years later.

Surf and sailboard companies started attracting the Japanese market. At the same

time, Kaneohe Ranch began redeveloping Kailua town, renovating older spaces

and bringing in new stores, said Gloria Garvey, co-owner with Brook Gramann

of Lanikai Bath and Body, which opened five years ago.

"Local people shop on the weekends," Garvey said. "During the weekdays the

Japanese have been real important to us."

Infact, Japanese customers - who typically shop for omiyagi, the obligatory

souvenir gifts for co-workers and friends - currently account for 50 percent of

the business, they said.

Garvey and Gramann have advertised their shop in Japanese publications and

have developed a following, as have other Kailua merchants such as Lanikai

Juice, Boots & Kimos Homestyle Kitchen and Muumuu Heaven, which is

so popular that it opened a store in Japan last year.

"It's like a must stop when you're in Kailua," Gramann said.

Not every store is seeing such a large bump in sales from the Japanese tours.

Global Village, whose trendy clothing, gifts and accessories cater more to

the local market, has seen its business from Japanese customers grow from

2 or 3 percent to 5 percent, said co-owner Debbie Ah Chick-Hopkins.

"It does help the economy overall in Kailua," she said.

And it has become normal to see visitors from Japan walking along Kailua

Road or Hahani Street.

"To me it really hasn't changed the flavor of the town," Gramann said. "It's like

this puzzle, and Kaneohe Ranch has done a good job of putting together

the puzzle to make Kailua a walking town."