Don't assume that every Asian tourist in the Islands is from Japan. The polite way to accept a business card from a Chinese visitor is with two hands. Korean elevator etiquette calls for someone to reach past your face to press the button themselves rather than ask for help.

Add in basic language skills and you have an idea of some of the cultural preparation being made in Hawai'i by the visitor industry for the expected influx of tourists from China and Korea as travel restrictions are easing.

The recently signed memorandum of understanding between the United States and China allows more leisure travel groups to come to the United States, which officials predict will result in a doubling of visitors from China, to more than 100,000 a year.

Those numbers have climbed each year, from 25,443 in 2003 to 55,910 last year. Last month, the first tour groups from China came to the Islands.

The Chinese visitors, although numbering only in the hundreds, grabbed the spotlight at a time when the number of Japanese visitors has been declining from a peak of nearly 2.2 million in 1997. That number dropped to about 1.3 million Japanese visitors last year, and fewer are expected this year.

Officials also predict an upswing in Korean travelers next year when South Korea is expected to be admitted to the U.S. State Department's visa waiver program.

Canada saw a huge influx of South Korean tourists when it added South Korea in its visa-waiver program in 1994. Arrivals soared 81 percent in the first year.

State statistics show South Korean visitors to Hawai'i have been rising steadily, even with the restrictions: 30,000 in 2005, 37,777 in 2006 and 41,819 last year.

CULTURAL NUANCES

State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said the state and the industry have been proactive in establishing relations with China and Korea, recognizing the potential for growth.

"We knew that we wanted to be more prepared with the Chinese and the Koreans than when the Japanese started coming to Hawai'i," Wienert said. "We better understand the cultural nuances."

Various companies have translated their Web sites into Chinese and Korean and are tapping the expertise of associates who work in the two countries.

She said the state and the industry understand the value of diversifying its visitor base. "Hawai'i is too dependent on the U.S. Mainland for visitors," Wienert said. "We need to diversify our portfolio so we're not just relying on one geographic area."

The Chinese and Korean visitors who came last year spent more than the typical visitor, she said.

"They're excited about travel; they're first-time visitors," she said.

She said China visitors stayed an average of 6.2 days and spent $337 a day while U.S. West visitors stayed 9.4 days and spent $158 a day. Visitors from the U.S. East stayed 10.3 days and spent $166 a day, and Japan visitors stayed 5.6 days and spent $269 each day.

"Chinese visitors now are the highest-spending visitors and they stay a little bit longer than the Japanese," Wienert said. Far more Japanese still come and have for decades. "They continue to be hugely important to us," she said.

The Korea visitors stayed 11 days and spent $217 per person, she said, showing themselves to be another promising market.

STUDENT OFFERS INSIGHT

Kapi'olani Community College student Cindy Gong is from China. She worked in hotels for eight years there and has been going to classes in Hawai'i for seven years.

Although many Chinese people speak English, she said tourism and retail workers would benefit if they learned some Chinese. "They trust the people that speak their own language," she said.

Gong said many Chinese visitors are expecting to shop, especially in the high-end brand name stores such as Prada and Louis Vuitton.

She talked with a recent visitor who spent $1,200 for a handbag. She checked the price in China and found it would cost at least $300 more there.

Gong said Hawai'i restaurants and hotels would do well to offer more Chinese food choices. She recently had visitors who had spent some time on the Mainland, eating a variety of Western cuisine.

Their first request here? "Find me some real Chinese food!" she said.

As far as etiquette, Gong said Chinese women sometimes shake hands and sometimes opt for a small bow when they first meet someone. "For sure, they do not hug," she said.

The Hawai'i Tourism Authority is contracting with KCC to provide curriculum in language and cultural training for the Chinese, Korean and Japanese markets, according to Muriel Anderson, HTA's vice president for product development.

"Hawai'i Tourism Authority focused on preparing visitor industry employees with the tools necessary to provide quality service to our emerging Chinese, Korean and mature Japanese markets," Anderson said.

'WE DON'T LIKE TO ASK'

At KCC, international program coordinator Tim Park can offer some tips although he's not working directly in the program yet.

"Korean women do not change their last name" when they get married, Park said. "So, just because she's Park's wife doesn't mean she's Mrs. Park."

At a table, it's polite for people to grab the salt themselves rather than ask someone to pass it.

"We don't like to ask," he said. "Even pressing the button in an elevator. You would reach over and press the button even if you reached in front of someone's face."

There's a protocol for seating someone in a car. In a four-seat sedan, the seat diagonal from the driver's seat, behind the front passenger, is the place to put the older or higher-ranking person. "The most important person always needs to sit there," he said.

Born in South Korea, Park moved to Canada for sixth grade and returned to Korea for university, where he met his wife, who is from Hawai'i and was visiting as an exchange student.

He's lived in Hawai'i since last year and has seen the adjustments in both cultures.

Anderson said KCC will be providing three levels of learning — beginners, intermediate and advanced. "It is expected that students will come away with the ability to provide some level of language communications and have some level of cultural understanding about the country, proper protocol, cultural perspectives, customs and traditions, etc.," she said.

OTHER COURSES

Other private companies have been preparing their own courses to get ready.

One of those is Ted Sturdivant, who publishes a series of international guides and is working in partnership with Academia Language School.

He said the program combines practical tips, language and culture. One big culture gaffe can be people who assume that any Asian visitor is Japanese.

"Don't assume," Sturdivant said. "Don't speak to people in Japanese until (you're) sure they're not Chinese or Korean."

Anderson said the agency started with KCC because the college had previous experience with this type of program.

"While we understand that there are many private efforts that are perhaps running in tandem with ours, we felt the partnership with KCC would be beneficial since they had done a similar project years ago," Anderson said.

Ron Umehira, chairman of the Hospitality and Tourism Education program at KCC, said he and his staff are putting together language and culture training geared to the Chinese and Korean markets as they continue and build upon established programs tailored to working with the Japanese market.

"Train-the-trainer programs are planned for all islands," Umehira said. He estimates that 2,000 to 3,000 students will go through the programs in the coming year.

Umehira and Sturdivant met up at an industry lunch last week and began discussing how they could work together.

"We're going to talk to each other next week," Umehira said.

IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT

KCC program coordinator Shirley Tsukano said sometimes the training is as subtle as teaching an inflection. "You can say the same word and depending on how you say it, it may have a different meaning."

She said Americans will accept a business card, stuff it in their pocket or purse or even write on it. But Japanese and Chinese cultures would frown on those practices. "That's like an insult. You're defacing the card," Tsukano said.

Another private firm working in this field is Elan Enterprises LLC, a Hawai'i-based company that specializes in corporate training. CEO Lynne Truair said the company has six trainers to teach managers and front-line workers about Chinese visitors and last week starting sending out the pitch.

"We're ready to go," she said.

Typically, the company sets up workshops at the hotels or companies that hire them. A brochure promoting the new program says: "China is not like any other nation in their needs and expectations."

Truair said the program will be tailored to the specific needs of the companies that hire them: retail, hotels, restaurants, etc. "Anyone that will touch the tourists," she said.

She said workshops typically are two to three hours a session and would include everything from explaining different clothing sizes in China to a translation of menus.

"Retail stores would need to talk money," she said. "It's being tailored to the particular industry."