Hawaii’s increasing costs prompt ‘teary goodbyes’ from longtime visitors |
The summer months, from June through August, is Hawaii’s peak season, usually bringing an influx of visitors looking to soak up the sun and experience the Islands.
But the decline in international markets, higher airfares tied to rising oil prices and weakened demand following Hawaii’s recent kona low storms have some in Hawaii’s tourism industry bracing for a rough summer.
“Since the Kona Low storms this spring, our booking pace has been averaging down per day, and that trend has continued through today,” said David Hu, president and CEO of A|T Collective, the parent company behind vacation wholesaler Pleasant Holidays, in an email to SFGATE. “With summer now weeks away and little recovery in sight, it’s shaping up to be a difficult season.”
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The two kona low storms in March, which caused severe flooding to parts of the Islands, resulted in a $300 million loss in tourism revenue and dampened visitor demand. They added to Hawaii’s existing economic challenges, including its slow rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharp decline of Japanese visitors and ongoing recovery from the Lahaina wildfire.
A popular destination for visitors on the west side of the island of Hawaii, Kailua-Kona’s coastline is lined with restaurants, shops and hotels.
Hu said he saw some momentum early in the year and that Hawaii was gaining on competing destinations, but “the storms reversed the trajectory, and the summer window hasn’t recovered.”
In April, Hawaii received about 829,000 visitors, down from 833,000 the previous year. Visitors from the West Coast, Hawaii’s largest market, dropped 4.8%. Looking ahead, the March storms “softened booking momentum among travelers actively planning summer travel,” the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau said in a news release.
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In response to the storms, the visitors bureau launched a $2 million campaign in May “to win the summer booking decision among high-value travelers by concentrating investment where travel decisions are actively being made,” the visitors bureau said. It had previously debuted a “Hawaii Stays With You” marketing campaign in January to entice more travel to the Islands.
But the storms are just one of several challenges Hawaii has faced to bring........