The Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau this week launched a $3 million marketing campaign aimed at convincing North American residents that Hawai'i is still a viable summer vacation destination, despite skyrocketing travel costs.

The bureau's "summer air program" highlights discounted air and hotel packages that are offered by partner agencies, which include wholesalers, hotels, airlines, attractions and others. With high ticket prices a top concern among travelers, these air-inclusive travel packages offer savings of $200 to $1,000.

Starting this week, ads began appearing on various Web sites, such as Travelocity, Expedia and Pleasant Holidays, and American, United and Northwest airlines. The visitors bureau also is buying full-page ads in the Sunday travel sections in selected West Coast newspapers, and purchasing air time on radio and TV stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The ad campaign is part of a $5 million emergency fund authorized by the Legislature to help bolster tourism following the sudden shut down of Aloha and ATA airlines. The Hawai'i Tourism Authority tapped into the fund in April to help more than 2,200 passengers who were stranded by the closures, and now HVCB is spending $3 million to lure people to the Islands.

Jay Talwar, HVCB senior vice president for marketing, said studies show that people still want to travel to Hawai'i, but they are being scared away by soaring airfares. Fuel prices have driven airfares and service fees to nearly double what they were earlier this year.

As a result, visitor arrivals in April fell nearly 8 percent and hotel occupancy dropped to 69.5 percent, the lowest percentage for any April since 2003. Although the number of visitors declined, spending rose slightly, by 0.4 percent, to $881.5 million.

The high airfares, combined with a slowing national economy, will keep the tourism industry under pressure for the rest of the year, according to a number of forecasts.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is predicting a 3 percent decline in visitor arrivals this year after a 0.8 percent drop in 2007. Also, a DBEDT report released this week forecast an 11 percent decline in airline seat capacity to Hawai'i from June through August.

To counteract the drop in visitors, HVCB has reached out to its partner agencies to put together travel packages loaded with incentives.

"The concern was that (travelers) were going to shop and see this brick wall of airfares that had risen so high that they were going to turn left and maybe do a drive vacation, or turn right and go to a competitor destination," Talwar said. "What we wanted to do was reduce the height of that airfare wall and so we worked with our wholesale partners and our supply partners and we're offering a minimum of $200 off airfare-inclusive packages to Hawai'i."

The campaign is targeting the West Coast because it's easier for people there to travel to Hawai'i than residents farther east, Talwar said. Plus, the bureau wants to keep the demand for seats high in the West because it serves as a connecting point for travelers.

John Monahan, HVCB president, said the purpose of the ad campaign is to prove to the airlines that there continues to be a demand for vacations to Hawai'i.

"We came off an all-time record January and February from North America, but the escalating oil crisis, the loss of Aloha and ATA, really kind of kicked us in the teeth a little bit," Monahan said. "All a destination can do in a crisis like this — and it's a nationwide crisis, not just a Hawai'i crisis — is try to drive demand for your destination."