Hawaii Gov. Josh Green speaks in an interview at his workplace in Honolulu, Aug. 2023. Hawaii’s leaders need to make it less difficult for Japanese tourists to make a stopover in the U. S. state. By creating a prior authorization program for travelers. Governor Green and other state officials proposed the concept of a recent stopover in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File)
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s leaders should make things easier for Japanese tourists visiting the U. S. state by creating a preclearance program that allows travelers from the country to save time at the Honolulu airport by going through immigration, customs and agriculture before departure. Inspections.
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s leaders should make things easier for Japanese tourists visiting the U. S. state by creating a preclearance program that allows travelers from the country to save time at the Honolulu airport by going through immigration, customs and agriculture before departure. Inspections.
Gov. Josh Green and other state officials floated the idea of making a recent stop in Tokyo. Green hopes the program will help boost tourism to the islands, Hawaii News Now reported Tuesday.
Tourism from Japan, Hawaii’s top tourism market, has been sluggish since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hawaii is keen to bring in more travelers from Japan because “it’s the tourists who know how to behave in Hawaii and how to take care of our aina and so on,” said Green, the Hawaiian word for land.
A preclearance program, discussed for many years, could open direct routes to other islands, Maui added, Green said.
Shortly after a fatal wildfire destroyed much of the town of Lahaina, west of Maui, the Japanese government donated $2 million in humanitarian aid.
House Speaker Scott Saiki, who accompanied Green on the trip, said the Japanese were involved in the formulation of the program and how it would be implemented and enforced.