Tourism

...visitor arrivals to the Hawaiian Islands rose 4% and visitor spending increased 3.5%....

Total Visitor Expenditures Increased 10.4 Percent to $1.2 Billion....

...it is OK that their plan would gut the tourism industry because it would also drive Hawaii's cost of living up to the point where residents could no longer afford to leave....

Organization presents comprehensive policy platform to lower aviation taxes, promote airline competition and fix air travel infrastructure in coming FAA reauthorization....

Tourism will see additional healthy gains on the Neighbor Islands for the next two years, before rising occupancy and costs begin to bring down growth rates, something that has already occurred on Oahu....

By adding a resort fee of $25 to a room rate of $125, the hotel brings in $150 per night but it can advertise a $125 room rate....

Today’s newspaper front page reports on an offshore wind energy proposal that brings back memories of a similar plan way back in 2008....

On June 15, when the law goes into effect, Santa Monica will see a drastic reduction in its Airbnb options, banning 1,400 of about 1,700 vacation rentals available on home sharing websites....

“The proposed bill will give the state the beach front property around Kawela Bay in fee simple for $35 million...."

...5-year strategic plan for outdoor recreation....

...Average daily visitor spending (-6.4% to $194 per person) was lower compared to last February....

HB 169 would gradually raise the transient accommodations tax for resort time share vacation units to 9.25%....

...Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled decisively in favor of online travel companies....

...Sand Should Return with Trade Winds....

Ownership of a Hawaiian vacation rental has become a dangerous investment....

...Japanese arrivals decreased 4.9 percent to 110,969 visitors....

...the effect of this bill is to burden the compliant small businesses and owner/operator establishments by creating a system that favors larger rental companies and hotels....

Sales taxes in most states leave rent alone, but our General Excise Tax (GET) taxes it....

...the early years of one of the most successful tourist destinations in the world, Hawaii, from about 1870 to 1940....

...the strengthening US dollar is driving down Hawaiian’s projected unit revenues by 3.5% to 6.5%....

...In coming weeks, Hawaii’s Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision....

It seems to be the first waiver granted this session by House Speaker Joe Souki....

... 8,282,680 visitors came to the Hawaiian Islands in 2014, exceeding the 2013 record of 8,174,461 visitors by 1.3 percent ....

...for not permitting it to use their site on Maui's north shore for things like weddings....

Total expenditures by visitors who came to the Hawaiian Islands in November 2014 increased 3.4 percent to $1.1 billion, compared to last November....

The balancing of million-dollar mortgages on inverse absolutes--paradise and illegality--produces a hyper-sensitive fear-and-hate-inspired psychology....

...these units would account for up to 25 percent of Hawai‘i’s total lodging inventory. In comparison, hotels units make up approximately 50 percent of visitor accommodations....

...The latest installment in the UHERO dashboard project is packed with information on the cost of travel to Hawaii from the US mainland....

Arrivals by air from U.S. West were up 9.1%, US East up 7.7% ....

...businesses and workers with specialized skills congregate together....

To Galuteria, gambling on Native American land offers "a lot of great models" that "the Hawaiians can follow" ....

...140 individuals are targeted to move into IHS shelters or homes and an additional 120 transient individuals will be returned to their homes outside Hawaii....

Weak tourism and federal downsizing are holding down growth.  Construction has disappointed this year....

...Honolulu’s airport is hardly the welcome to Hawaii that you might expect.....

...the Gabbard measure would go further, forcing thousands of economy-boosting tourists and business travelers to apply for visas — a notoriously arduous process....

The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) has determined that the individual in isolation at a Honolulu hospital who was reported to the department as a possible Ebola case yesterday does not meet the criteria for testing....

A 1.3 percent decline in total arrivals and a shorter average length of stay led to a 3 percent decrease in visitor days....

...Total expenditures by visitors who came to the Hawaiian Islands in July 2014 rose 2.6 percent from the same month last year to $1.4 billion....

Airline passengers are considered an easy group to tax....

...and no other sector has yet emerged to provide offsetting stimulus....

The first phase starts with 650-699 cows....

The Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and Musicians Association of Hawaii are pleased to announce a two-year agreement that will run through June 30, 2016....

This matter is currently under review by the State Attorney General’s office, the HTA, as well as the HTA’s contractor....

Both are interim appointments subject to state Senate approval....

...the Hawaii Supreme Court announced it would consider the four-year legal challenge waged by a hui of environmental groups against the City and County of Honolulu....

For the first four months of 2014, total visitor expenditures fell 2.9 percent to $4.9 billion and total arrivals dropped 2.6 percent to 2,720,760 visitors....

Last year’s tourism weakness continued in the first quarter of this year, and incremental gains for 2014 will be slight....

Moloka'i Ranch is launching initiatives to achieve sustainability, starting with the re-establishment of ranching operations....