Study says ads lured many to isles

The emergency $10 million advertising campaign that the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau launched in 1997 to attack a slump in tourist arrivals paid off, according to a market study. The campaign brought in an estimated 695,000 people in the following 14 months and they spent $1.1 billion in the islands, generating $78 million in tax revenues, said the market research firm Longwoods International. Longwoods, hired by HVCB to evaluate the campaign's effectiveness, said the $4 million spent on the mainland brought in 425,000 people and the $6 million spent in Japan attracted 270,000.