Hawaii tourism was upgraded by local economists saying that visitor arrivals would increase by 6.5% up by 2.1% meaning visitor arrivals would exceed 7.7 million by the end of the year.  The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s (DBEDT) latest report predicts economic growth for Hawaii at 2.2% this year with largest gains to […]

Morgan Stanley(MS) published an analyst report on American Assets Trust (AAT) about their investor day last week saying that both retail and tourism in Hawaii has strongly improved.  American Assets Trust which owns Waikele (retail), Waikiki Beach Walk (Retail and Hotel) and the Shops at Kalakaua, has really increased revenue in 2011 and are taking […]

Occupancy rates for all of Hawaii hotels stood at 67% down only 1% from this week last year.  This is a remarkable feat considering that Japanese arrivals have been down 17 to 25% since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.  Even better news is that room rates actually rose from this time last year.  Oahu occupancy […]

Visitor arrivals to Hawaii were up 4.2% in March and unexpectedly great number considering Japanese visitor arrivals from Japan declined 17.9%.  The industry was getting ready for a phenomenal March when the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami occurred on March 11th.   Visitor arrivals from Canada were up over 34% many were escaping wintry weather to […]

Tourism officials in Hawaii are seeing improved bookings for trips to Hawaii during Japan’s Golden Week.  The Hawaii Tourism Authority has been stepping up campaigns in Japan to encourage more tourism in the wake of Japan’s disaster and it appears to be paying off. Although the expectation is that bookings will be lower than last […]

Marriott is joining forces with Alexander and Baldwin to build a Courtyard by Marriott.  The hotel will be located near the Kahalui airport.  The project has been planned for nearly a decade and will finally break ground next week.  Tourism officials have longed wanted a hotel near the airport that can accommodate business travelers and […]

We have been seeing slight gains in hotel occupancy in Hawaii.  The overall occupancy rate is modestly up 2% to 71.9% from the previous week.  Oahu’s occupancy rate was the highest among the islands at 76.6% which was up over 4% week over wee. The worst performing island was the Big Island at 57.4%. The […]

The Hawaii hotel occupancy was up 6.3% to 75.7% over August last year for the entire state.  Also the average daily room rate climbed 1.8% to $181.49.  Oahu hotel occupancy once again lead the state at 83.7% and Maui had the highest room rate $238.07.  August completes a busy and improving picture for tourism in […]

The city of Honolulu is giving Kamehameha Schools until Thursday to decide if they have interest in acquiring 6 parcels of land on the mauka side of Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa next to Jameson’s Restaurant.  Kamehameha Schools had given the properties to the City for a possible park.  Now that there is interest in those […]

There is a tremendous amount of optimism towards the Hawaii tourism industry as visitor arrivals are up nearly 12% year over year.  This is all the second month in a row where all measured components of the tourism industry for Hawaii are up.  For the month of August there were 680,496 people arriving which was […]