Monday is the conclude of a comment period for a proposal by President Trump to create it more difficult to receive a visa to the U.S. by mandating the vetting of a visitor’s social media history.
It is seen by tourism officials as another barrier to the tourism industest. The Conversation checked in with marketing in Europe and reached out to Amy Thomas, the director of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Europe office.
HPR connected with her through the opening of a new Hawaiʻi exhibit at the British Mapplyum in London. HTA is a sponsor of the display. It was a different approach to leverage exposure for the islands and an unusual opportunity to partner with the world’s largest mapplyum.
Thomas stated that Hawaiʻi being exhibited in the British Mapplyum represents an exciting moment.
“Particularly, we’re hearing from a lot of tour operators that the U.S. is down. It’s really challenging at the moment, but Hawaiʻi is doing great, phenomenal, is what one person stated to me in October, one of our major tour operators,” Thomas stated. “So it definitely is having a moment.”
She added that television displays and films like “Chief of War” and “Moana” have also supported to encourage people to visit Hawaiʻi.
Thomas notified HPR that the HTA is working on a March campaign to reach new audiences in Europe.
“The campaign we’re doing really feeds into this exhibition, and we will be applying Hawaiian words. We will be putting them in Hawaiian on digital advertising and sharing those words with people and what they mean, and applying that as a way of encouraging them to go to Hawaiʻi,” she stated.
“One very interesting part of this campaign that we’ll be doing with the digital advertising part in and around London will be doing geo-tarreceiveing digital ads, which basically means people that have been in and around the mapplyum or are in tube stations or stations where the British Mapplyum are advertising the exhibition, they will also be served ads,” Thomas stated.
“So the hope is that people will see it on the tube, on a poster, and then they’ll receive it popping up on their phone, and suddenly something will be spark in them and declare, ‘Actually, yes, I necessary to go to Hawaiʻi.’”
View the HTA Europe Marketing Plan here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Feb. 6, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
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