Experts predict that the declining Hawaii tourism economy will bottom out this summer and then begin to bounce back in the second half of 2009. Experts predict that Hawaii visitor counts will drop 2.3% in total for 2009 compared to the deeper hit of 10.8% in 2008. KGMB has a nice write up and video
about these latest predictions.One interesting side note from KGMB’s Brooks Baehr, the average tourist coming to Hawaii spends $180/day for hotel, food, tours, souvenirs. That’s a pretty good gauge to use to set a Hawaii vacation budget.
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Still looking for some summer air fare sales to Maui. Who would have thought that you could get bargain air fare to Hawaii in February.
Maui Hawaii. Activity, food prices are hurting visitors
A tourism executive said, "We haven't seen such revenue and visitor declines in Maui since we've been keeping records."
A fresh sign of the woes are being unleashed by a Maui economy mired in boom-time pricing marketing and the Great Recession.
Those vacationing on Maui are, unfortunately, not finding ways to reduce their restaurant and activities expenses once here. Visitor confidence in finding reasonably priced activities and restaurants in Lahaina/Kaanapali is exceptionally low.
Next year will not be any better than this year if the needs of visitors cannot be met.
Milan Moravec
Lahaina
It's August 2010 and still no bounce back...vacationers are agreeing with the American Automobile Association that Maui is the most expensive island vacation spot in the world for visitors and families.