While Japan is still dazed and reeling from a devastating earthquake and tsunami followed by an ongoing nuclear meltdown crisis, the U.S. travel industry is gearing up for a steep drop in the nearly 3 million Japanese visitors who come to the United States every year.

Tsunami in Japan

Hawaii is the state that is going to feel the biggest pinch. Out of the 7.1 million visitors who came to Hawaii in 2010 and spent $11.4 billion, 17.4 percent were Japanese who spent $1.93 billion in the state.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is pegging back its $2 billion forecast for 2011 revenue from Japanese visitors.

The HTA issued a statement with a nine-point plan for dealing with the tsunami fallout. The authority estimates a 17 to 19 percent drop-off year-on-year.

Estimates based on historical responses to crisis like the SARS scare and Kobe earthquake peg the possible tsunami-related loss to Hawaii Tourism at around $220 million.

Hawaii hoteliers are already reporting an impact due to the tsunami. Keith Vieira, senior vice president of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, told Hawaii’s KITV that two tour groups amounting to thousands of travelers had canceled without re-booking.

The Waikiki Parc and Halekulani hotels, managed by the same company, are also seeing cancellations and expect more since half their guests are Japanese.

The tsunami has also caused tens of millions in infrastructure damage in Hawaii, including a few hotels which are closed for at least a few weeks to repair the damage.

The state that’s likely to feel the second biggest impact is California, where Japanese visitors spend around $500 million each year and make up the second biggest overseas bloc after the United Kingdom. The tsunami-related infrastructure damage to California has been pegged at around $40 million.

Photo – PedalFreak

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Haiti Still Has a Choice

As Haiti moves from emergency aid to the long-term task of rebuilding homes and communities, the equation as regards tourism has changed somewhat. There are urgent choices to be made – by international travel companies, aid organizations and tourism officials in Haiti. 

Jacmel, Haiti

One company which has made the right choice is Choice Hotels & Resorts. One day before the earthquake hit Haiti on Jan 12, Choice announced plans to open two properties in the Southern coastal town of Jacmel – a 32-room Comfort Inn hotel and a 120-room Ascend Collection member hotel. 

The Comfort Inn project is an existing hotel which is being converted. Choice has sent relief supplies directly to the property, which is still standing and providing shelter to guests and local families who lost their homes in the earthquake.

Brian Parker, VP emerging markets and new business development for Choice Hotels, says that the quake may set back timetables, but Choice Hotels still stands by its committment to Haiti and will be opening both properties. 

But it doesn’t always work out as nicely as this. Take, for example, the case of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second largest city on the north coast. Before the quake, Cap-Haïtien’s airport was supposed to get a $30m upgrade to recieve international flights. Also in the works – a road connecting Labadee to Cap-Haïtien’s famed world heritage tourist attractions – the Citadel of Laferrière and the ruins of Sans Souci Palace.

Now, with the central government in shambles and the world’s attention focused on Port-au-Prince, these projects don’t look like a sure thing anymore. Cap-Haïtien Mayor Michel St Croix says they desperately need about $7 million to improve the roads and infrastructure.

They might have managed it on their own too, had they not been cut off from the tourist dollars of Labadee, 5 miles west of Cap-Haïtien. Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s private resort, on lease from Haiti until 2050. After a $55 million expansion in Labadee by Royal Caribbean, the fee per passenger was raised from $6 to $10.

Labadee, Haiti

Until 2004, the $6 per passenger paid to Haiti was divvied up, with $2 going to the National Treasury, $2 to the Tourism Ministry and $2 to Cap-Haïtien. But since the military coup in 2004, all of it goes straight to the National Treasury.

Last year, out of the 900,000 odd people who visited Haiti, 600,000 were Royal Caribbean cruise passengers at Labadee who never saw the rest of Haiti, and didn’t stay overnight. A majority of the rest were expats visiting their homes. Simply put, Haiti does not get many tourists.

Haiti now has a choice – they can go back to things as they were, or make changes to ensure the tourism dollars are spread around. They could:-

1. Put together a plan for international aid to help develop tourism infrastructure in towns all over Haiti.
2. Share tourist tax revenues with the provinces.
3. Convince cruise companies to stay longer. Offer transportation and safety for cruise passengers who want to visit nearby towns.

According to Patrick Delatour, the Haitian Tourism Minister, the initial cost of Haiti’s reconstruction is expected to be around $3 billion, most of which will be focused on rebuilding Port-au-Prince. If even a small fraction of this amount is spent on developing tourism infrastructure outside the capital, we’ll be looking at a vastly improved Haiti in 5-10 years.

Jacmel photo by Spyder00Boi; Labadee photo by Rob Inh00d

The earthquake in Haiti has affected 3 million people, with casualties expected to be in excess of 50,000. Aid is being mobilized on a worldwide scale and the needs and logistics are astoundingly massive.

Haiti Presidential Palace (before & after ) quake

If you wish to donate, listed below are the travel companies who collect loyalty points from members and forward equivalent cash donations to the Red Cross.

Also listed alongside are the dollar values of the donated loyalty points, which is interesting since this value is usually subjective due to the large number of variables involved - such as membership level; and how, where and when you choose to spend the points, etc.

Starwood Starpoints – Starwood allows SPG members to transfer Starpoints to charities including the American Red Cross. For every 4000 Starpoints donated, Starwood will make a $50 donation. Each Starpoint = $0.0125

Hilton HHonors - Under the Hilton HHonors Giving Back program, for every 10,000 points donated, Hilton HHonors will send U.S. $25 to the charity of your choice. Each Hilton HHonors point = $0.0025 

Marriott Rewards – Marriott has a quantitative grading level for converting points into cash donations. A donation of 18,000 points will result in a $50 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque. $100=33,000; $250=60,000; and $1000=180,000

So the more points you donate, the higher the donated cash value of each point. The donated cash dollar value of each point thus varies from in between $0.0027 to $0.0055.  The average comes out to $0.0038

IHG Priority Club Rewards – No dollar value specified.

 Choice Priviliges Points - Every 1000 donated Choice Priviliges points result in a $5 donation. Each Choice Priviliges Point = $0.005

If you think it’s too simplistic to peg each Hilton HHonors point at $0.0025 just because a donation of 10,000 Hilton HHonors points results in a $25 cash donation, I agree. So read this and this. The study for Starwood is here and the one for Marriott is here.

Has to be mentioned here that Bill Marriott says his foundation is sending $500,000 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. This is independent of any donations made via Marriott Rewards points.

It is a bit easier for the airlines, who can offer in kind services to aid organizations.

United‘s system is probably the best of the lot. They’re asking for mileage donations, which are then used by the American Red Cross to assist in getting aid workers to affected areas. There’s no dollar conversion involved. To top it off, the United Airlines Foundation is also matching contributions up to a total of fifty thousand dollars to the American Red Cross.

American and Spirit are going in a direction opposite to the hotels - asking for cash donations, and rewarding contributors with bonus miles.

If you want to donate directly to the Red Cross, you can donate $10 to Haiti relief by texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999. If you want to donate online, here’s the Haiti donation link on RedCross.org.

Before photo by M_Eriksson; After photo by plasmastik