Lt. Governor James R. “Duke” Aiona, Jr. today unveiled legislation to establish a Hawaii Sports Commission.  Under his proposal, the 13-member commission would be given the full-time responsibility to attract, develop and promote sporting events throughout the state.  According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Pro Bowl alone accounted for $28.6 million in visitor spending;... Read more »

International Visitor Arrivals to Hawaii received a boost in part from a rise in Japanese visitors to the state.  Arrivals in November for the two groups were up 10 and 7.9 percent respectively in November. It marked the third consecutive month of growth out of Japan for Hawaii’s visitor industry. “We welcomed more first-time visitors... Read more »

Total visitor arrivals in August 2009 were virtually unchanged from the same time last year according to statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.  Oahu fared the best with a 1.6 % increase in total arrivals; but total visitations decreased for Hawai’i island (-8%), Kaua’i (-5.2%) and Maui (-2.4%) in August 2009. Here on... Read more »

(Posted by Wendy OSHER © 2009)  Maui’s visitor count was down 19 percent in December from the same time last year.  The county’s outer islands saw even deeper declines of 37 percent for Lanai and 49 percent for Molokai.  Total expenditures on Maui also experienced double digit decreases, down 28.3% to $243.4 million.  The per... Read more »