MĀ‘ALAEA — For years, Japanese visitors have made O‘ahu their destination of choice, flocking to the island for high-end shopping, wedding photoshoots and a taste of Hawaiian culture.

But now local tourism officials are trying to lure them to Maui by offering direct international flights, with the hope that their big spending will boost an economy still recovering from the 2023 wildfires.

The plan calls for nonstop routes between Japan and Maui that would be possible with a pre-clearance or expedited entry system, allowing travelers to pass U.S. customs before they leave Japan and arrive at Kahului Airport, which is not an international airport.

On Tuesday, Maui government and visitor industry leaders signed a tentative agreement to push forward these plans with Nick Adams, the special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism and values. Adams was on Maui for a visit before attending the 2026 Hawai‘i Tourism Conference later this week in Honolulu. 

“I’m going to do absolutely everything in my power possible to make sure that we get as much of Japan to Maui as possible,” Adams said during the signing at the Maui Ocean Center Sphere. “The case for it is indisputable. It’s undeniable. It’s irrefutable. The cultural ties, the previous success of Japanese tourism in Maui, all of it makes a lot of sense.”

The non-binding memorandum of collaboration and understanding recognizes “the shared intent … to actively advance” the initiative. 

Adams signed it along with West Maui state Rep. Elle Cochran; Maui Hotel and Lodging Association Executive Director John Pele and Deputy Director Naomi Cooper; Maui Districts Airport Manager Marvin Moniz; Mana Kai Maui General Manager Kasper Rasmussen; Maui Ocean Center General Manager Tapani Vuori; and Hawai‘i Farm Project CEO John White.

Supporters of the plan say it’s the ideal way to boost tourism with minimal impact, given Japanese visitors’ reputation for respectful behavior.

“We just feel that the Japan market has always been kind of a good traveler for Hawai‘i as far as the cultural respect and impact that they leave,” Pele told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative.

Japan is Hawai‘i’s largest international visitor market, and for years, O‘ahu has been the primary draw, with Maui typically relying more on visitors from the U.S. Mainland and Canada. 

But Japanese tourism to Hawai‘i plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic, from nearly 1.6 million visitors in 2019 to 289,137 in 2020, according to data from the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. Even fewer came in the following years before the market finally saw a resurgence in 2023. Since then, arrivals have been growing, and last year 731,922 Japanese visitors came to the islands, about a 46% recovery. 

Spending also hasn’t fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, when Japanese visitors shelled out $2.2 billion in 2019. However, spending has risen each year since the pandemic, reaching $1.08 billion in 2025. 

But even before the pandemic and the fire, Maui was seeing a decline in Japanese visitors and spending, going from 67,977 arrivals and $126.8 million in 2012 to 46,684 arrivals and $66.6 million in 2019, according to Hawai‘i Tourism Authority data shared at the signing event.

Last year, Maui only had 14,480 Japanese visitor arrivals compared to 715,104 on O‘ahu and 45,954 on Hawai‘i island, both of which have international airports. 

The idea to revive Japanese tourism to Maui came during a Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau board meeting last year, when an emergency in Honolulu forced flights to be diverted, Vuori said. That reignited an old debate — why couldn’t the Kahului Airport handle some of those international flights? 

While Kahului is not an international airport, it already accepts direct flights from Canada through a similar deal as the Japan proposal. Turning Kahului into a fully-fledged international airport would require a lot of funding for improvements and staffing, so they instead looked at a simpler solution — a pre-clearance program for Japan. Vuori joined Gov. Josh Green’s visit to Japan last year and said consulate officials were supportive of the idea. 

Moniz believes Kahului is capable of handling a couple of flights a day from Japan, given that they would likely arrive in the early morning before the rush later in the day. He said the airport wouldn’t need a major increase in staffing because customs would be handled in Japan.

Kahului Airport’s longest runway at nearly 7,000 feet was previously deemed too short for international flights, but now with advanced technology, more planes can land on shorter runways. Moniz pointed out that the airport already receives long-haul jets from the Mainland. He said the runway is safe but needs to undergo reconstruction, which is in the works.

Currently, Japanese travelers flying to Maui often have to stop on O‘ahu first, where they arrive early in the morning and have to wait hours for their connection, Moniz said.

“There is a real tremendous value to convenience,” said Brent Lausterer, director of market activation and program delivery for the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau. “We saw that with the opening of the Kona flights (to Japan). Once you open up direct flights to Maui, it’s really going to open up another level of appeal.”

Lausterer sees a lot of potential in reaching out to the Japanese market. Many people in Hawai‘i have deep cultural ties to Japan where their ancestors left centuries ago to work in the sugar and pineapple plantations, and today Maui County maintains “Sister City” relationships with two cities in Japan and one in Okinawa. Hula has also become wildly popular in Japan.

Lausterer also noted that on average, 70% of Japanese tourists are repeat guests, meaning that once they experience Maui, they’ll likely want to return. He added that if Maui wants to pursue Japanese tourists, it will have to invest more in Japanese language resources and staff, as well as target different travel segments, such as honeymooners, families and retirees. 

The demographics of Japanese visitors to Hawai‘i are changing, Cooper said. A new generation of Japanese tourists is looking for cultural experiences, health and wellness opportunities and a slower pace of life than the high-tech vibe of the big cities in Japan. 

“That’s exactly why they want to come here,” Cooper said. “It’s still got that old-school magic.” 

And, there may not even be a big need for fluent Japanese speakers, given that many younger people now have translation apps on their phones that make international travel much easier, Cooper added. 

It’s unclear how long it would take to roll out a pre-clearance program for Japan. The agreement between the U.S. and Canada, for example, was signed in 2015 but didn’t take effect until 2019.

An agreement between Japan and the United States would affect airports across the country, but Adams said he didn’t think other states would have a problem since preclearance programs aren’t new. In addition to Canada, the U.S. also has deals with airports in the Caribbean, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. 

“I don’t think any of the other states are gonna have any objections whatsoever,” he said. “This is really going to be a federal decision.”

Adams described Hawai‘i as “the jewel in American tourism’s crown” and said he was eager to work with the Japanese embassy and American officials to make the preclearance program happen.

“I want your businesses to thrive,” he said. “I want this island to be at its zenith. I want it to be the golden time for Maui.”

Maui used to be a much more popular destination for Japanese tourists. Cochran, who worked in the visitor industry for over 30 years, said she remembers when Japanese tourism thrived on Maui in the 1970s and signs at the hotels she worked at were printed in English and Japanese. She thinks the shift from traditional hotels to timeshares is a big part of why they’ve been coming to Maui less.

Cochran, who is part Okinawan, is one example of Maui’s cultural ties to the region, and said she recently connected with a group of Okinawan visitors who came from the same town as her grandparents.

Ron Williams, the CEO of Atlantis Adventures and former chairman of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority board, attributes the decline to economics. Hawai‘i is not a cheap place to visit, and the Japanese yen has plunged in value. He also thinks global unrest has impacted Japanese tourism. 

Lately, even Maui’s reliable Canadian market is shifting to O‘ahu. Prior to the fire, more Canadians were going to Maui; since 2023, O‘ahu has seen more Canadians. In 2025, O‘ahu tallied 230,751 Canadian arrivals to Maui’s 154,017.

Statewide, Canadian visitor arrivals have been falling every year since 2023 when there were 474,727 arrivals. This year Hawai‘i is on track to see 372,228 Canadian arrivals. 

Canadian spending has dropped, too, from $1.23 billion in 2023 to $996.7 million in 2025. 

Cooper said she thinks the decline is related in part to “politics.”

During his second term, President Donald Trump has threatened Canada with tariffs, made comments about annexing the country as the 51st state and signed an order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. 

Over the summer, the two countries were locked in an escalating trade war that ended in both sides imposing 50% tariffs. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has encouraged citizens to buy Canadian and travel in Canada. Cooper said only Canadians can truly say what is driving them to vacation elsewhere, but she and Pele agreed there’s not much Maui officials can do about it.

“Obviously there are things that are out of our control, and we’re dealing with that right now,” Pele said. “But that’s why we have to look at these kind of initiatives where we can just pivot and focus on keeping our industry healthy and also keeping that balance.”

Pele said that what people on Maui can control is being “the best examples of living our culture, living our aloha that we can be, and hopefully that can carry over and still perpetuate that relationship with all our travelers.”

Adams doesn’t think the tariff talks and political rhetoric have contributed to the decline in Canadian tourism. He said he thinks that “travel and tourism is above politics, and we should have as many Canadians coming to the U.S. as possible as tourists.”

“I don’t believe that trade disputes, negotiations have anything to do with travel and tourism,” he said. 

Cochran, a Republican, said she “completely” thinks politics are impacting Canadian tourism, but like Pele she hopes Hawai‘i’s reputation will win out.

“I don’t like to be equated to what’s going on over there,” she said. “Our government, our people, our way, our spirit of aloha and how we think and connect to people and to our lands and culture is very different, I think, from any other state.”

As Hawai‘i’s tourism-dependent economy struggles to recover, Cochran hopes the push for more visitors won’t backfire.

“We want to have the visitor industry come back and thrive and be full force, but not to the point where it’s become unmanageable, infringes on our lifestyle,” Cochran said. “We have an opportunity now to make sure that we build back better.”