ENTICING JAPANESE TOURISTS BACK TO HAWAII: ARE CASINO'S THE ANSWER?

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Abstract (150 Words)

With the explosion of casino development in the Asia Pacific as well as the United States, casino gambling has become more culturally embraced as a recreational activity. The purpose of this study was to re-examine the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii from Japanese-speaking tourists’ perspective and compare these results from a previous study completed a decade ago. With the continuing decrease of Japanese visitors to Hawaii, and with the importance of the Japanese market to Hawaii’s economy, state officials are considering other forms of tourism, such as casino tourism, to help revive the Japanese tourism market and increase Hawaii’s global competitiveness. By analyzing the responses of the current Japanese-speaking tourists to Hawaii and comparing these responses to the Japanese tourists surveyed 10 years ago (1996), this research attempted to determine if the Japanese tourists in 2006 have changed their perception on the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii. Although the findings of this study indicated that the 2006 Japanesespeaking tourists have changed their perspective from past studies on the effects that the legalization of casino gambling would have on Hawaii, future research should focus on other segments of the tourist market.

 

ENTICING JAPANESE TOURISTS BACK TO HAWAII: ARE CASINO'S THE ANSWER?

With the explosion of casino development in the Asia Pacific as well as the United States, casino gambling has become more culturally embraced as a recreational activity. The purpose of this study was to re-examine the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii from Japanese-speaking tourists’ perspective and compare these results from a previous study completed a decade ago. With the continuing decrease of Japanese visitors to Hawaii, and with the importance of the Japanese market to Hawaii’s economy, state officials are considering other forms of tourism, such as casino tourism, to help revive the Japanese tourism market and increase Hawaii’s global competitiveness. By analyzing the responses of the current Japanese-speaking tourists to Hawaii and comparing these responses to the Japanese tourists surveyed 10 years ago (1996), this research attempted to determine if the Japanese tourists in 2006 have changed their perception on the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii. Although the findings of this study indicated that the 2006 Japanesespeaking tourists have changed their perspective from past studies on the effects that the legalization of casino gambling would have on Hawaii, future research should focus on other segments of the tourist market.