Isle tourism braces for drop

Start your taro patches people,
it's about to get real bad there.

The loss of thriving auto manufacturing left Detroit a crime infested slum. A house there goes for $5,000 in many neighborhoods....many homes are given away for free if you promise to live in it.

Hawaii losing tourism will be far worse.

Hawaii certainly assisted in bringing it on itself...crime,
corruption and it is way too expensive compared to more civilized destinations like costa rica and belize, where they rarely intimidate, beat or kill their tourist visitors.

..and yes, I am a fricken haole who has been to hawaii 50+ times over 20 years.

I won't be back. I got the message, and I am the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
your lost visitors.

Reap what you have sewn, enjoy your politics and taro and save your comments for those still visiting, who have not "got it" yet....I already realize you don't care and don't want me back...(you fricken haole!)

It is tough right now for everything in Hawaii...my family just left LA and LOVED it! They loved the weather-nice breeze, cool temps,(no Vog), wide flat paved roads (no potholes or half **** cover ups),shopped at Target, Ralphs, Trader Joes, Vic Secret, all the stores Hawaii doesn't have.....all my mom kept on saying was 'Cheap, cheap'!
I'm going to give them a tour of some homes/condos right now, visit some Indian casinos, shop some more...oh yeah she also played some lotto....more to do in LA, that's why I moved!

whooops forgot to mention, it's another batch of relatives that I'm going to give a tour of LA...

i also just had a group of visitors from the islands for 10 days. showed them around a little while they spent pretty much all the time on their own - they even droved to las vegas for a day, down to san diego and various other places. they know what they were able to do here is a far cry from what they could do in Hawaii. I helped them ship 4 large boxes of items they bought here so it made it easier for them without having excess baggage. I was just in hawaii for a few days last week - nothing compared to being back home here. I am originally from hawaii but I am also fortunate that I have a home in H/L ridge that is paid for. RE loans have experienced a 50% drop this year as compared to last year. RE agents that had it good because they were on new condo projects are now feeling the pinch even more with less projects that wants to hire their firms so now they are saddled with the fact that nobody is walking in to them and they now need to hit the streets to look for buyers or sellers!! I know people who are leaving the RE market there to go back to a 9-5 job that comes with a regular paycheck instead waiting on commissions after close of escrow. It is a tough situation for many and the worse is yet to come!!

Where is the creativity of Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert whose job was created by Linda Lingle? Maybe the industry needs to work on better package deals for vistors to come to Hawaii? Maybe visitors cannot afford all those high end hotel prices? Maybe Hawaii needs to reexamine how they are promting Hawaii? Every island is different, every island has something different to offer to visitors?

$6/gallon home heating oil (times 1200 gallons per season) or that family trip to Maui? Tough call, or no brainer?

Tourism is like any other industry - it requires investment to succeed. People aren't going to invest unless they see the probability of growth. What you are about to see here is a viscious cycle of disinvestment as things spiral down.

Investment? They need some focus. Does Outrigger really think the Beachwalk project will make Waikiki the object of my future vacations and trips back home?

Know what's wrong with that article?

It bases its assumptions on April data. When things are spiraling down fast, even two month old numbers are out of date.

Wait till you see the hit Hawaii tourism takes this summer.

But are our tax, tax, tax leaders cutting back? Nope.

Auwe, fewer opportunities in the food services industry.

if you put taps on your slippas, going last mo' long.

As long as we pay for a choo-choo train, Mufi says we'll be ok.The tourisn industry will be fine, the democrats will simply raise taxes to fix it.

Isn't that the plan?--

to make Hawaii more attractive to tourists by driving all the tourists away?

Hawaii is just stuck on doom and gloom. You will have to break away from that mentality. Never mind what the news media keep saying. Just look around and use your common sense.
First that report was based in April and April was when everything was starting to fall apart. Do you know what today is? It's already the end of May.
From my own analysis which does not include many things like the eco-systems and large money coming in now from the Army and Marine Corp. My friends in the construction industry tell me their adding people, not letting them go as the media wants you do believe. However they are keeping only the best people and hiring only the best people also.
As for as Hawaii is concerned this is what I came up with just this morning:
Hawaii is no longer the highest in gas prices. We are now number four.
China and Korea will start to come over here on direct flights starting in July and all the seats are full for the next six months. I understand there will be about four flights per week. Instead always looking at the bad side start learning to speak Chinese. Start planning in how you will handle these people? Otherwise behind the scene a few companies will keep very quiet until they get this whole thing tied up and you will be left out.
The Wheel of Fortune is coming back to Maui next month or the following month.
The tourist at the Airport are coming as usual and the ones interviewed are happy saying it's not that expensive.
All the huge Navy Ships like the Aircraft Carriers are now coming in.
Walgreen’s, Target stores and so on are still being built as usual.
The Hawaii Tourist Bureau has never even spent their three million dollars to stimulate the economy that they have available.
So on and so on.

Mix with the economic situation , the fact that the Vog may last years we may be in for a long tough ride. The Vog will affect tourism, housing, agriculture, and the health of our people. On the Big Island we have lived
with the vog for 20 years but this Vog scares us.

We will always find a way to visit Hawaii; but last time (2007 June) we saw that "old" shopping centers gone and very upscale shopping going in. We and our friends don't buy that kind of thing on vacation. Waikiki is looking for high end people to pay high end prices...but those people go to way more exclusive places. Someone is not thinking of who really comes to Waikiki.

From what I gathered from my last trip there a few weeks ago, it seems that people who are buying into RE is basically out of towners looking for a cheap condo. What younger generation couples in HI these days can afford a 800K and above single family home - not a condo or townhouse!!! With the downpayment of at least 10 to 20%, who walks around in HI these days with 80 to 160K loose change in their pockets. I know a RE agent who has a monthly fixed expenses of nearly 6 to 7K a month and that is for a measley condo, monthly tuition for her special need child and auto lease payments - and we haven't even gotten in their monthly expense for food, gas and a little social outing. Instead, they are pounding the pavement looking for buyers and sellers and looking for their old contacts for a free lunch or after work pupus as their dinner. The RE loan agents aren't fairing any better because their income is also based on commissions only. The bottom is just about ready to drop for many folks in the islands. Look at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus - I was there a few weeks ago and on a Sunday - you could hear a pin drop!!! Hawaii needs to wake up for its residents and look at giving in a little to the outer island projects that would have put better than a bowl of rice on the table for them. Those projects create jobs - I mean well paying jobs - not the usual little above minimum wage with barely any benefits. Protecting the environment and eco-system is fine but at some point in time, each side must give in a little for the sake of survival. If the residents don't believe it, just tell me how does it feel to pay the price you are now paying for milk, eggs and other food products. Look at the military commissary - why is their price so much higher than what the commissary here in LA charges. Who is ripping off who and who is helping the island residents. It will definitely get worse - a lot of friends there don't want to hear that - but it is better that I be the messenger of bad news for them instead of reading it in the papers or on the internet a few days later.

Just another reason to not rely on a single industry for the majority of our jobs. Hawaii needs to diversify badly.

I work in the heart of Waikiki and I hear tourists all day long talk about the whitewashing (no pun intended, I am haole) of Waikiki. Stripped of all things Hawaii you don't know if you are in LA, Boston, Miami, or?? with Tiffany's, Prada, Gucci, etc. Not a coconut in sight!

'Hotel rates are up''tourism is down' is in the paper nearly every week. DUH!!!! think it might be cause and effect??? it doesn't take a major in Economics to figure that Mom and Dad can't pay $300 a night!!

Shops charging Japanese tourists a 'visitors tax' on top of all charges (yep, it happens)....don't these people think word travels?

Maurading local mokes reeking havoc with pickpocketing, robberies, MURDER.

Rip off dinner cruises, tours, etc.

I DARE the tourist bureau to come in my studio and listen to tourists real stories for just ONE DAY.

It will shock you and make you sick.

Go Dutch.

Their most famous policy brings in one billion dollars a year to their economy with no problems.

Coffee shops or more bars?

If you've been there, you know the answer.

Stand Up For Hawaii and Go Dutch.

we got to stop relying on the tourist. it makes no sense. we have the best quality of ag in the country. we can get the high prices form the mainland and japan. coffee? lettuce? fruits? mango? guava? Tourism is a lose, lose, concept. This is what I see: they visit, then they no like spend money cause they cheap, so they cook in their hotel rooms, catch the public bus so the community cannot get on to go to work, then they buy our land and buy us out so they can profit in selling it later (on false claims (ie. near waterfalls and beaches?! in Kalihi???) then they call themselves local so they can get cheaper prices?! UNreal!! Some of these people have no respect for others, time to get our major revenue from the resources we have. The foreigners in office have made waikiki look more like new york. Even tourist don't want to stay in waikiki. And where are the Hawaiians?? Tourist came to see in the first place?? Not in waikiki. Why because we don't speak Japanese?! Hawaiians are not asian!!!! Hawaiians are a race of people folks, not chinese or philipino or japanese.. we don't all use chopsticks!!
It's getting ridiculus?!