Brand Marketing
Hawaiʻi is adorned with its unique culture and natural landscapes. The warm voice that calls out to visitors is inviting and welcoming. This voice also instructs us to nihi ka hele, to tread softly, so that our travel activities are low-impact, coordinated, authentic, and market-appropriate. In the eyes of the beholder, Hawai‘i is a destination paradise. It is important to educate visitors on how to respect these voices of care and value.
HTA seeks to strengthen tourism’s contributions by protecting and enhancing Hawai‘i’s globally competitive brand in a way that is coordinated, authentic, and market-appropriate; is focused on Hawai‘i’s unique culture and natural environment; and supports Hawai‘i’s economy by effectively attracting mindful high-value travelers.
Learn about our Major Market Areas
About Brand Marketing
Hawaiʻi Target Traveler
We want to attract travelers who understand they are entering a unique community and who want to take the time to learn about our history and culture. They enjoy hiking, beach activities and outdoor adventures and understand their obligation to preserve the environment during their visit. They love traveling, trying local cuisine, buying local to support small businesses and getting to know our people, because that’s what makes travel to Hawaiʻi even more rewarding. To sustain tourism’s positive benefits, we must attract mindful visitors by sharing the values that shape our culture and promoting the destinations, adventures and experiences that are positive for residents, visitors and Hawaiʻi. We welcome anyone who is curious about our culture, is generous with our communities and respects the values and land we love.
Our Brand Marketing Objectives
- Assure that brand marketing campaigns and programs re be guided and informed by the Hawaiian values of aloha, mālama, hoʻokipa and kuleana.
- Maintain the cultural integrity of the Hawaiian language, customs and practices, cultural and historic sites, and imagery in all brand marketing initiatives. Highlight the diversity of Hawai‘i’s people, place, and culture.
- Drive destination brand awareness. Manage the brand of the Hawaiian Islands as well as the specific brands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Maui, and Hawai‘i Island.
- Take advantage of market insights and intelligence on trends, distribution dynamics, consumer insights, and competitive analysis. Stay adaptable to changing market trends and continuously innovate to keep the brand relevant.
- Cultivate the next generation of mindful travelers.
- Increase per person expenditures and total spending in alignment with our Strategic Plan’s Key Performance Indicators.
- Educate visitors with specific information about safe and respectful/mindful travel to provide a seamless message throughout the entire visitor journey.
- Develop airline relationships with the goal of monitoring and optimizing load factors and supporting routes as directed.
- Focus marketing and support tour product development to build a desire to visit during shoulder periods and encourage multi-island itineraries.
- Channel visitor spending into Hawai‘i-based businesses and organizations as a means to support a healthy economy, in partnership with other government agencies and visitor industry stakeholders.
- Lead in crisis management and communication to visitor and all involved in the visitor industry.
- Support Hawai‘i-based projects, programs, and initiatives.
- Engage local communities and stakeholders on every island to broaden participation.
- Ensure that all initiatives are metrics-driven.
HTA’s Global Marketing Team
HTA contracts marketing organizations worldwide – collectively known as its Global Marketing Team (GMT) – to inspire mindful travel and support regenerative tourism for the Hawaiian Islands. The GMT maintains a deep understanding of its respective markets, and also serves as the Hawaiʻi resource for timely distribution of information and communication.
The GMT covers Hawaiʻi’s main source markets for visitors – the U.S., Japan, Canada, Oceania, Europe, Korea, China and Taiwan.
The GMT is charged with developing and executing annual Brand Marketing Plans (BMP) for their respective markets. These plans are reviewed and refined on a regular basis.
