The U.S. economic recession storm has just about blown away the roofs off the tourism incomes of all the states, except for a few of the popular destinations. One of these exceptions happens to be Hawaii, where the number of incoming visitors actually went up in the first quarter of this year. Jim Carlton, Wall Street Journal, reports that the number of visitors to the islands rose to about 1.9 million in the year’s first quarter, up 2.8% from the year-earlier period, according to the latest figures from Hawaii state officials. Hotel occupancies rose 1.5% in the period, compared with a 4.6% drop nationwide, estimates Smith Travel Research, an industry-tracking firm.

He also writes that this uptick didn’t just happen by accident. Despite the fact that there has been a dropoff in local tourism across the board in the U.S., Hawaii has agressively sought out international tourists to make up for the shortfall in U.S. tourists, by marketing itself in countries like the U.K. and Germany where it hadn’t made big efforts before. And by sprucing up facilities in the Islands to be able to offer a better experience to visitors. Pretty smart, I’d say, considering the fall of the Dollar vis-a-vis the Euro.

In fact, I’d say that it wouldn’t hurt for Hawaii to push a parallel national ad campaign. Lemme give you a pop quiz to prove that you know squat about Hawaii. Answers in the links. Everyone wants to go to on a Hawaii vacation, but do you have any idea about what are all the things to do in Honolulu, or Oahu? What’s the name of that darn volcano where you can see the lava tubes flowing? Lastly, I say Hawaii and you hear beach vacation. So, it stands to reason that you should know where in all of Hawaii’s islands one can find the best place to enjoy a beach front vacation? Photo by TimWilson via Flickr.

FYI, you don’t need to book a room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to enjoy the pleasures of all the fun things that go on at the beach-front resort. You can join in even if you book a room at a cheap B&B, and then spend all your time at aforementioned resort without spending a dime. That’s just about the only way someone as broke as me could afford to enjoy a luxury beach front resort vacation in Hawaii. I’m sure I have a lot of company, what with the recession having slashed your investment portfolio and all…

Posted on May 13th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News