A significant downward trend in a key Hawaii travel market has ominously entered the picture.
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45 thoughts on “Key Hawaii Travel Market Drops Unexpectedly | Is That A Good Thing?”
A significant downward trend in a key Hawaii travel market has ominously entered the picture.
Governor wants more high end tourists. That would make a $200 dinner benefit one corporate business. Is that better than 8 others that spend $25 each that benefits 8 locations, many locally owned? Same with rooms, shopping, etc. Less traffic, but also less money going to the shops trying to make a living. Not sure this has been thought through very well.
Good point!
Maybe they figure 1 rich person will spend as much as 8 “normal” people, even in the stores. They will buy the bazillion dollar artwork in the galleries, go to eat at the gourmet restaurants, hire personal chefs to cook for them. No tee shirts for the rich!
A lot of people are still coming to Hawaii if the other story about TSA is any indication. The decline in numbers is likely a statistic comparing the surge in COVID revenge travel that occurred and inflated mainland travelers from SWA flooding the market with intro fares. Now that”s on the decline and International traffic is poised to return. That’s all good for Hawaii. Hawaii will not flourish as a destination for the stereotypic SWA traveler. We need a mix of mainland and international travelers
We’re not billionaires but we will be returning this Fall, as usual. I live in CA and our friends are returning at pretty much their usual rate. Europe is a total mess right now so we’ve taken it off the schedule for the near future. The pandemic definitely shook things up I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what choices travelers make in the future.
None of this is particularly odd. Large corporations cash in on others’ misfortunes, it’s the American Way.
How is Europe a total mess? Just wondering as I’m going in a couple of months.
My son and his family just got home from 6 wonderful weeks in Europe. All was terrific. Flights, trains, B and B / hotels, entertainment. Bars, restaurants, Tourist sights, and free to visit parks were all well done at a reasonable cost.
The only negative was they found Switzerland was the most expensive of the 6 countries visited.
They will return nest year instead of a planned trip to Hawaii.
Just returned from ten days in France in early May. A trip that was scheduled for April 2020 and covid hit. We had a great time, everything was opened, people were everywhere, and no masking requirements. We were initially concerned about the strikes due to the extension of the retirement age, but we saw nothing and it was great. I highly recommend going to France right now.
If people continue to pay these overinflated prices nothing will change and prices will continue to go up. The condo I rented last year is 30% higher this year. Really? Did costs go up anywhere near 30%? It’s called Greedflation and the only way to bring it down is to go elsewhere.
Agree, that is why so many of us will go to other great sun locations!
Our travel agency has seen a drop in our Hawaii bookings probably due to the high price of accommodations this year.
And the locals attitudes
We complained about too many tourists 2+yrs before COVID, outnumbered 7:1. Try put 7x the # of ppl in Your car or home; we deal w/that Daily commuting to/from work, at the beach, grocery shopping etc. It’s not that we don’t want Any tourists; just not such large #’s of them. When COVID struck we had the roads, stores, beaches almost entirely to ourselves again – I say almost, as some still managed to arrive even in the height of lockdown, traipsing around unmasked, uncaring about the limited capacity of hospitals & available essential workers. Tourists do things daily that cost HI hugely (ocean rescues, car wrecks & gawking, brush fires), leave mounds of trash for the landfill, harm the reefs & more. Come,And be respectful to our islands
We are permanent Residents in Banff National Park in Canada. Yes we get crowded with tourists sharing our beautiful home. We welcome them and invite them back as they for the park upkeep and my kids University tuition, my food etc.
Try Canada for your vacation. A much shorter flight as well.
You will notice that Hawaii is now pricing itself out of reach for normal people and families.
Flights, Hotels, Restaurants, and rental cars. The cost has escalated to a breaking point.
Think about this, without visitors we have no economy. Think about how things were during the Covid times.
People won’t have jobs!
Don’t expect this trend to discontinue as Hawaii has done a silly thing: Committed to changing itself to a “premium” destination and one wonders when it will be competitive again, particularly with the High cost of government always being a major factor in the economy for many decades. Secondly, why wouldn’t the adventurous traveler want to try new territory? Hawaii is totally predictable now.
We’ve all seen this coming for many years. Rememerbn when the Big Five at least contributed to a somewhat diversified economy? HI tourism (a one pony show) may go the same way although we hope not.
As always, balancing local and aina needs with tourism demand is not easy. Everyone will be pissed off about something at some time.
If only we could keep in mind the big picture: human population growth throughout the world is causing all kinds of problems. Too many humans are strangling mother nature, while increasing competition and prices for depleting resources.
Right you are Kaleo. What makes Hawaii special is it has and should be a melting pot destination of travelers from all over the world. The current situation is reflective of the surge of SWA traffic and resulted in Hawaii getting flooded with Covid revenge travelers. Hopefully it will find a good balance of tourism not destroying the infrastructure.
I had friends come to visit from the east coast. They stayed at the Marriott at KoOlina. They were very disturbed by the amount of homeless and the amount of dirty trash everywhere. They said it was disappointing.
Aloha, It seems like the hotels were heading towards higher rates and fees before covid and were trying to get the vrbos and Air BNBs out of business. Now that the catastrophe is passing they are making up for lost revenue. As a 16-year resident of Kauai, the cost of living has gone through the roof. The hotels never seem to learn their lessons but they are for the most part corporate extensions meaning it is the headquarters setting the prices not locals who determine the prices. Room rates are ridiculous. And no, we do want visitors but we do not exist for their exploitation. Cheap rooms only mean locals make less money servicing those rooms.