Hawaii Tourism Drops With Recovery Expected In 2024

Above, visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Reports are saying that tourism to Hawaii has dropped.

Given the inflationary high prices of airfares and hotels, this is not at all surprising. There's also the possibility of a recession as well.

According to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

Demand for travel to Hawaii has fallen, especially on Maui, and travel industry experts say it’s not expected to materially recover until 2024.

Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, said travel to Hawaii was up 16.5% for 2024 before the Maui wildfires in August, and is now negative statewide.

“We are off by double digits from October to April. Recovery will build gradually over time, but we don’t believe that we’ll get back to historic levels before May or June,” he said. “Right now, demand is well below historic levels for Maui. It’s the fires, (high) prices and mixed messaging. People are unsure about coming to Hawaii.”

Some of what Richards is talking about is a continuation of what is already showing up in preliminary statistics released Monday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The numbers showed that the sluggish return of visitors to Maui after the August wildfires and to the state from North America caused September arrivals and nominal spending statewide to drop year-over-year for the second month in a row.

Some 651,286 visitors came to the Hawaiian Islands in September, down 7.4% from September 2022 and moving the pre-pandemic arrivals recovery back to 88.5% from September 2019, according to DBEDT data.

To read more, go here.

Hawaii: "Delta Variant" Has Little Effect On Tourism

Above, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Despite the scare tactics His Fraudulency's administration and their media lapdogs have been saying, the coronavirus "Delta variant" has had little effect on Hawaii tourism

According to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

Despite the recent spike in Delta variant COVID-19 cases, Hawaii’s popularity as a travel destination continues to grow.

At a Monday meeting of the House Committee on COVID-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness, state officials and visitor industry representatives discussed the effects — or lack thereof — the current outbreak in the state has had on the recovery of the visitor industry.

Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, said during the meeting that the increase in visitor arrivals to Hawaii — which in July totaled nearly 90% of those in July 2019 — have exceeded UHERO’s most optimistic predictions from earlier this year.

To read more, go here. 

Kilauea Lava Lake Rises In Recent Days

Above, a view of molten lava during our helicopter tour of Kilauea. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in May, while on the Big Island of Hawaii, we took a helicopter tour of the Kilauea volcano aboard Blue Hawaiian Helicopters.

During the tour, we were treated to some good views of molten lava in a vent of the volcano. It was quite impressive.

An article by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald caught my attention at The Drudge Report about the recent activity of Kilauea volcano.

They wrote:

HONOLULU (AP) — The lava lake at the summit of Kilauea volcano has been rising in recent days, offering visitors a dramatic view of rolling, spattering hot rock. 

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory research scientist Don Swanson said Monday scientists don’t know exactly why the lava is this high. 

It’s relatively unusual, though. Lava overflowed onto the crater floor in May of last year, raising the rim that confines the lake by another 30 feet. Before last year, it was previously this high in 1974 and in the late 1960s.

Above, the Kilauea volcanic vent during our approach. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The article also includes a slideshow video of the lava lake.

To read more, go here.