April 19, 2017 |75° |  Check Tra񀐄cHawaii News

Chinese Nu Skin distributors
᠁�ock to Hawaii destinations
By Allison Schaefers
Posted April 19, 2017
April 19, 2017

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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Five Nu Skin couples, with the men in their o񀐄cial aloha shirts, re-created the “Victory Kiss” display dockside of the battleship
Tuesday.

Xingzi Song, a Nu Skin distributor from Chengdu, China, who sold enough of theproduct to win a company trip to Hawaii, was so excited touring the Battleship
Missouri Memorial on Tuesday that his grin rivaled the length of the popular tourist
attraction.

“I’m very excited to be here. I could not sleep when I found out the convention would
be in Hawaii. This is my 񀐁rst time to the United States and to Hawaii,” Song said
through a translator. “I love it — the sky, the air, the people. I plan to come back everyyear.”Song is one of the roughly 4,000 Nu Skin distributors who make up the largest
incentive tour from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan that Hawaii has hosted. Thecompany spent more than $20 million to bring top producers to Hawaii and would
have increased its investment if it could have brought all 6,000 quali񀐁ers to Hawaii,
said Avis Chau, Nu Skin Enterprise’s Hong Kong-based vice president of successinspirations. More than 2,000 Nu Skin quali񀐁ers were denied U.S. visas and sent toBali, Indonesia, instead, Chau said.
ADVERTISINGBY THE NUMBERS
4,000
Nu Skin distributors attending the company’s Hawaii convention April 5-20
6,000+
Hotel room nights booked for attendees$8 million
Amount of corporate spending in isles$1 million
Tax income generated“This was the 񀐁rst time that we’ve gone to the Americas. It’s the 񀐁rst time that we’ve
ever encountered a visa problem. We aren’t sure why it was so high — maybe visa
reforms,” she said. “People worked really hard for this trip, so it was a little
disappointing for some of them.”

Groups traveling to Hawaii typically have a 10 to 15 percent visa rejection rate,according to Jadie Goo, who serves as the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s brand manager
for China and Taiwan. Nu Skin had about a percent visa rejection rate when it traveledto events in Sydney and Dubai, Chau said.
Hawaii’s tourism leaders can’t set U.S. travel policies, but they have long championed
ease of access. Like most tourist destinations, Hawaii wants a greater share of China’s
burgeoning and lucrative outbound visitor market. The number of visitors from China
is forecast to grow to 173,479 by year’s end. Still, visitors to Hawaii from China eachspend $365 a day on average, the highest of any market.
Visitor industry members say the good news is that even with the visa restrictions,
thousands of Nu Skin distributors came and are pumping money into Hawaii. The
better news is that their tourist and travel visas will last 10 years, so they could easily
return.
“Anytime we can get a new visitor, the likelihood of them having a good experienceand wanting to come back is high,” said John Morgan, Kualoa Ranch president.
Participants, who came in 񀐁ve waves from April 5 to 20, are occupying more than 6,000
hotel room nights at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, the Moana Surfrider and the Sheraton
Princess Kaiulani. A smaller group of Nu Skin VIPs also is staying at the Kahala Hotel &Resort, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa and the Westin Maui Resort & Spa.
The HTA estimates Nu Skin’s impact at about $8 million in corporate spending andnearly $1 million in taxes. Nu Skin requested 񀐁ve days of exclusive duty-free shopping
hours at DFS Hawaii. It rented a hangar to host 񀐁ve nights of galas at the Paci񀐁c
Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. Nu Skin business has sold out portions of Kualoa
Ranch and the Battleship Missouri for 񀐁ve days.
“Typically, April is not a busy month. This helped out quite a bit,” Morgan said. “Whensomething like this happens, our shoulder days get busier, too.”Anne Murata, Paci񀐁c Aviation Museum’s director of marketing and businessdevelopment, said Nu Skin was the largest group to book a hangar since Amway China
came to Hawaii several years ago.
“Amway China brought 1,600 guests, but Nu Skin has brought 1,100 to 1,500 for 񀐁venights,” Murata said.
Nu Skin has been the 񀐁rst group other than movie companies to charter the BattleshipMissouri Memorial, said Shufen Chang, the memorial’s Asian sales and marketingmanager.
“We’re so excited. Their social media reach is just massive. They’ve got thousands offriends,” Chang said.

Nu Skin also has put the isles on track to reach Hawaii Tourism China’s 2017 goal of񀐁lling 15,000 hotel room nights with meeting, convention and incentive visitors. Theyaugment the eight other Chinese incentive groups that have put 1,000 hotel roomnights on the books this year.

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