Hawaii extends welcome to visitors from China
Source: Xinhua |
00:58 UTC+8 August 30, 2010
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HAWAII is courting tourists from Chinese mainland with improved services and its World War II stories, after the number of Chinese travelers to the US state soaring in recent years.
The number of Chinese visitors to its war memorial complex, a combination of several sites at Pearl Harbor, has increased from 5 percent to 9 percent out of a total of 1.5 million tourists to the islands last year, said Eileen Martinez, chief of interpretation of WW II Valor at the Pacific National Monument. For Martinez, it is an important task to figure out how to better accommodate more and more Chinese guests.
"We are currently studying our Chinese visitors and the reason why we are doing that is because we are having an increasing number of visitors from China," she said.
"We want to understand what their expectations are, what does the person from China know about this history, and how we can best help that visitor to understand the history," she said.
Martinez and her staff have contacted students from the University of Hawaii who worked at local tour companies, as well as other Chinese and their local travel services, to solicit ideas on how to better cater to the needs of Chinese visitors.
"When America got involved in WW II, Japan was occupying China. People in China assisted in so many ways and places as our ally, and we were very strong parties. That is something very important to communicate about," she said.
A year and a half ago, a group of Chinese writers paid a visit to the memorial. Although Martinez did not speak with them, she realized that more and more Chinese wanted to learn about World War II.
"The story of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 is also important to China," she said.
A Chinese visitor surnamed Wang was excited about his trip to Pearl Harbor. Wang, a history buff, spent a day visiting the USS Missouri, the ship where Japan officially surrendered, and other sites.
"Although I have a good grasp of WW II history, I still cherish the experience as I am able to visit the place where the real and fierce war was really fought," said the visitor from Beijing.
The number of Chinese visitors to its war memorial complex, a combination of several sites at Pearl Harbor, has increased from 5 percent to 9 percent out of a total of 1.5 million tourists to the islands last year, said Eileen Martinez, chief of interpretation of WW II Valor at the Pacific National Monument. For Martinez, it is an important task to figure out how to better accommodate more and more Chinese guests.
"We are currently studying our Chinese visitors and the reason why we are doing that is because we are having an increasing number of visitors from China," she said.
"We want to understand what their expectations are, what does the person from China know about this history, and how we can best help that visitor to understand the history," she said.
Martinez and her staff have contacted students from the University of Hawaii who worked at local tour companies, as well as other Chinese and their local travel services, to solicit ideas on how to better cater to the needs of Chinese visitors.
"When America got involved in WW II, Japan was occupying China. People in China assisted in so many ways and places as our ally, and we were very strong parties. That is something very important to communicate about," she said.
A year and a half ago, a group of Chinese writers paid a visit to the memorial. Although Martinez did not speak with them, she realized that more and more Chinese wanted to learn about World War II.
"The story of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 is also important to China," she said.
A Chinese visitor surnamed Wang was excited about his trip to Pearl Harbor. Wang, a history buff, spent a day visiting the USS Missouri, the ship where Japan officially surrendered, and other sites.
"Although I have a good grasp of WW II history, I still cherish the experience as I am able to visit the place where the real and fierce war was really fought," said the visitor from Beijing.
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