A drop in Hawai'i visitors from Japan has tourism marketing experts searching for strategies to buck that trend, including focus groups to target likes and dislikes of key groups and a new TV campaign.

Frank Haas, outgoing marketing director for the state's tourism agency, yesterday urged the industry leaders to examine a trend that is flattening the market after a strong boom.

"It's important to be watchful but not panicked," Haas said yesterday, as the Hawai'i Tourism Authority brought together industry experts at an annual marketing meeting at the Hawai'i Convention Center to talk about marketing strategies for this year and beyond.

Takashi Ichikura, executive director of Hawai'i Tourism Japan, a consultant for HTA, noted that the number of visitors from Japan dropped 9.4 percent last year to 1.3 million and the average stay dipped to 5.6 days, but he noted that these visitors still return to the Islands often — an average of more than three times — and still routinely spend more than visitors from other areas.

He unveiled a series of scenic new "Discover Aloha" TV ads featuring an original song by Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom for the Japanese market featuring a young woman on pristine beaches, learning lei-making and trying the hula set against a night skyline of Waikiki.

Ichikura also provided a detailed look at four traveler groups from Japan with likes and dislikes gleaned from a recent focus group.

He painted a mixed picture of the Japanese economy and what he described as "consumer bipolarization." By that, he meant the Japanese corporate economy is recovering but that rise isn't being felt equally by all consumers.

From a market better known for its free-spending visitors with high-end shopping tastes, he said there is a feeling that "rich people are getting rich and poor people staying poor."

He points to a statistic that shows sales of new cars in Japan down for 11 straight months with economists there saying "we are in the age of low consumption."

That leaves some Japanese travelers choosing Okinawa for vacations that are closer and cheaper. In 1999, he said 200 non-Okinawan couples held weddings there; in 2006, that number soared to 6,050.

Ichikura said Hawai'i returned to the top spot for preferred vacation destination in 2005 and stayed there last year.

Yesterday, HTA announced that visitor industry veteran David Uchiyama has been hired to take on the job of marketing director, succeeding Haas, who will be joining the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management.

Uchiyama has years of experience in tourism, most recently as regional director of communications for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i and French Polynesia. His job will include oversight of all marketing contracts for leisure marketing and business marketing, including the convention center and sporting events.

Haas said the future marketing must get beyond the "sun, sand, surf" label on Hawai'i and more emphasis must be put on active, higher-spending visitors rather than just trying to boost the numbers.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.