Your aunt in San Diego really did see a Hawai'i tour bus at Costco, all part of a $300,000 tourism promotion that Marriott hotels launched yesterday on the West Coast.

The monthlong mobile sales pitch will send a 45-foot-long tour bus decorated with tropical images of Hawai'i from San Diego to Seattle.

The "Spirit of Aloha Tour," a consumer and travel trade blitz to promote Hawai'i vacations, kicked off in San Diego with a Hawaiian blessing that included traditional chants, conch shell blowers, hula dancers and musicians.

The blessing signaled the start of a 1,300-mile journey designed to take the sights and sounds of Hawai'i to eight cities across California, Oregon and Washington. The U.S. West is the single largest market for Hawai'i's tourism industry. Visitor arrivals from the region fell 14 percent through the first 11 months of last year, according to state data.

"Hawai'i is the favorite vacation destination for people living on the West Coast," said Ed Hubennette, Marriott International vice president for North Asia, Hawai'i and the South Pacific.

The hotel chain wants to get out the message that "a Hawai'i vacation is very affordable right now and offers just the right combination of relaxation and fun to rejuvenate and nourish the soul in these challenging times," he said.

Hubennette was joined for the kickoff and blessing by Maui singer Camile Velasco, who won fame as an "American Idol" top 10 finalist in Season 3.

Velasco will make public and media appearances on the tour.

She has recently produced a new music CD called "Koy" which will be launched in March 2009 with the single, "Guava Jelly." Also performing on the tour is a hula halau from the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The bus will stop at Costco stores and call on key travel wholesalers, travel agencies and meeting planners in each of the eight cities.

Marriott's Spirit of Aloha Tour schedule is: San Diego, Jan. 12-15; Los Angeles/Orange County, Jan. 16-23; San Jose/San Francisco, Jan. 24-31; Sacramento, Jan. 27; Portland, Ore., Feb. 1-4; Seattle, Feb. 4-6.