Hawaii Tourism Oceania will once again be hosting our trade focused event - 'Aloha Down Under' from the May 29th - June 2nd. Hawaiian Airlines will be the overall sponsor of the Australian event and Air New Zealand of the New Zealand event. The roadshow has proved popular over the past two years with both the Australian and New Zealand Travel Trade and Hawaiian suppliers alike. The schedule for this years event will be as follows:

May 29th - Auckland VIP Luncheon and Evening Trade event
May 30th - Melbourne Trade Event
May 31st - Sydney Trade Event
June 1st - Sydney VIP Breakfast and Brisbane Trade Event.

Special airline deals have been kindly supplied by Hawaiian Airlines and Air New Zealand suppliers attending. We anticipate seeing over 800 agents over the week long event and 80 key media, CIM operators and VIP's.

This years ADU takes place the week prior to AIME (Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo) in Melbourne, so presents the perfect opportunity to target the leisure and CIM operators by attending both events.

Growth from Australasia continues to be strong. The total number of visitors from Oceania in 2004 totalled 132,130 with Australians visitors making up 113,000 or 86.5% of the total, representing an increase of 44% over 2003. The total count for 2005 is not yet available, however, preliminary data for the period Jan-Oct 2005 indicates continued growth from Oceania thanks largely to the increase in airline seat capacity with Hawaiian Airlines.

There really has never been a better time to invest in this strong emerging market.

Invitations for Aloha Down Under are now available by contacting Gemma O'Brien at gobrien@hawaiitourism.com.au and AIME interest should be directed to Adele Tasaka at atasaka@hvcb.org.  We look forward to welcoming MANY of you 'Down Under'!