Everyone in the Hawaii travel industry is hoping so. With the Yen being very strong right now compared to the US dollar it seems to many think that we could see more people from Japan taking Hawaii vacation packages since they will get more bang from their buck. The Yen is up 15% as compared to last year at this time and it seems to be growing in strength. If it continues to grow compared to the US dollar this could be a very good fall in regards to travelers from Japan for the Hawaii travel market. Any bit will help right now because travelers to Hawaii from the US has been declineing sharply as more of them take their vacations closer to home to save money.
With the news earlier this week that Japan Airlines was cutting back on flights it was good to heard the good news that Hawaiian Airlines were adding more flights. Hawaiian Airlines is the largest Hawaii carrier and brings in thousands of people each year to Hawaii to enjoy their Hawaii vacations. Hawaiian Airlines yesterday said that it will add three flights between Hawaii and California next Summer. The three flights that they will add next summer are two daily flights to Maui with one being from San Diego and the other from Oakland. Hawaiian will also fly an additional Honolulu to Los Angeles flight as well. With Hawaiian adding more flights the Hawaii travel industry hope it will help things get back to normal.
With all the news that there have been sharp declines in travelers from the mainland to Hawaii, the one bright spot has been that there has been a steady increase of travelers from Japan. Well yesterday Japan airlines said that they were going to layoff 14 percent of its workforce by 2011 and scrap 20 international flights. They didn’t say which flights were going to no longer be in service but there is a chance that some of them may be flights to Hawaii. If that’s the case that will hurt the struggling Hawaii travel industry because there will be less people from Japan taking Hawaii vacation packages. We’ll just have to wait and see if any Hawaii flights from Japan will be affected.
With thousands of people taking Hawaii vacations each year, a lot of those people come to Hawaii to get married. With Hawaii’s beautiful beaches and first class resorts, what’s not to love? Below is a video from the Travel Channel talking about best places to get married at in Maui. Maui is one of the most beautiful islands and is a little more expensive then Waikiki but there are less people there which makes it feel like you’re really getting away from the city life. I had the chance to get married in Hawaii but it wasn’t in Maui and my wife always wishes we got married their.
With the months of Summer coming most hotels in Hawaii expected to see people traveling to Hawaii pickup and see the occupancy rates increase as well, but that didn’t happen. In the month of July this islands occupancy rates was at 70% which is lower than what it usually is for the off seasons. While some hotels around the islands saw a some bump, most saw a decline as compared to July 2008 when the occupancy rate for the state was around 73%. The island of Oahu had the largest occupancy rate of 78% but the rates for the hotel rooms were at a all time low of $149 per night. The island with the lowest occupancy rate was the Big Island with it being around 57%. The island with the most expensive rooms was Maui with a room costing around $238 per night and had an occupancy rate of 645 in July. With the summer over and the slow fall season coming it doesn’t look good for Hawaii hotels unless more people start taking more Hawaii vacations. With some hotels in Hawaii already declaring bankruptcy it should be interesting to see which ones are able to survive.
The next time you fly on a Hawaiian Airlines interisland flight for a Hawaii vacation you can expect to pay a $10 fee for first checked in bags. The reason for this new fee is due to Hawaiian’s rising cost and they’ve had to make their fares so low to attract new customers that the cost isn’t evening out. Not everyone has to pay this new few though. Hawaiian Airlines premium frequent flier programs, corporate members, first class passengers and passengers on international flights that include stops in Hawaii. If you want to bring in a second checked bag Hawaiian airlines will charge you $17. For Mainland flights on Hawaiian they charge $15 for the first checked in luggage when paid online while they charge $20 for the first luggage when paying at the airport with a second bag costing $25 when paid online and $30 at the airport..
A new report from the state of Hawaii for visitor arrivals says that airline capacity on flights to Hawai’i is expected to decline to 1.98 million seats from September through November which is a 2.1 percent decline from the same period last year. Even though there has been some recovery over the summer experts think that we won’t see things getting back to normal till 2011. In the report by the states they’re predicting that seats from the west coast which brings in the most travelers to Hawaii are expected to fall 2.4 percent during the period to 1.18 million. From the east coast they predict to see a decline of 10.3 percent to 205,289 for people booking Hawaii vacation packages. From the report that came out yesterday there was some good news for Hawaii travel. In the report they are predicitng an increase in travelers from Japan of around 3.5 percent to 398,930 from the same three-month period a year earlier. Hopefully as the economy begins to turn around we will see travelers from the US increase.
I’ve gotten word from some travel insiders that we may soon see another airline go out of business and merge with another airlines. These airlines deal with Hawaii travel so it should make things interesting. As some airlines struggle to stay alive we may soon only see the ones with a bigger wallet survive which at the end could hurt the consumer by paying higher for fares. Stay tuned for more on this……
As part of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii statehood the Marriott Hotel is offering 25 all expense trips for two to designated Marriott resorts on Maui, Oahu Kaua’i, or the Big Island by submitting a Twitter handle, Facebook connection or e-mail address. You can enter to have a chance to win one of the 25 free trips at marriotthawaiitweets.com. I think using social media to promote this giveaway and basically their hotels in Hawaii is a real interesting idea. Everyone is on either Twitter and Facebook now and this is a great way to get new followers to promote future specials they may have on a vacation to Hawaii. So for you next Hawaiian vacation make sure to check out hotels social media sites because a lot of them have some great deals they’re offering.
With all the bad news about the economy and how it has affected travel to Hawaii, yesterday there was a sign that things might slowly be getting back to normal. Hawaiian Airlines announced yesterday that it will be adding 170 jobs by early next year to help staff their new planes. With most in the airline industry it’s good to see someone hiring. With the new planes and the new people joining the company I expect Hawaiian to keep on picking up the pace. I recently talked to some Hawaii travel insiders and they said this past month people are booking more Hawaii vacation packages and most hotels in Waikiki are operating at a 90% full rate. As we hit to slow period of fall I’m hoping as well as others we start seeing another increase of travelers in November and December.
