Hawai'i's tourism officials are asking: Can Korean and Chinese tourists be as important a market for the islands as Japanese visitors?

The Hawai'i Tourism Authority plans to fund a program to train tourism workers in the nuances of Korean and Chinese culture to better cater to an expected surge in these visitor markets.

That's a smart move considering fewer Japanese visitors are coming here; the once-reliable repeat visitor, faced with rising airfares, is finding fresh destinations closer to home. In 1997, 2.1 million Japanese visited Hawai'i; in 2006, it was 1.3 million.

Energy costs and a weak economy hurt U.S.-based tourism too: Mainland visitors will find a Hawaiian vacation more expensive than ever.

But there's some encouraging news, and it all points east.

South Korea is under consideration for visa-waiver status, which would allow Korean tourists to visit Hawai'i without enduring the onerous process of obtaining a visa. About 40,000 Koreans visited Hawai'i in 2007. Visa waivers could help raise that number higher than the 17-year peak of 123,000 in 1996, officials say.

Meanwhile, a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and China, signed in December, will allow companies to organize and market package group tours for Chinese who want to visit the United States. HTA's Beijing office is gearing up to promote the Islands, beginning as early as May. The market, while currently small, shows potential: In 1996, 27,000 Chinese visited Hawai'i as tourists; 10 years later, it was about 50,000.

Hawai'i is not immune to the pressures of a struggling U.S. economy, and efforts to seek out and develop new markets for the primary engine of our economy are not only welcome, but a necessary precaution against tough times. A publicly funded training program is a reasonable first step; the industry should prepare to make more ambitious investments in these emerging markets as well.