Hawaii has lost its edge as dreamy tropical paradise

We have seen it all before.

Hawaiian Airlines is cutting some Asian routes that it recently launched and reducing frequencies on others.

Are we surprised?

Of course not. Mark Dunkerley is a very capable and visionary CEO — his aim to expand Hawaiian Air outside the traditional routes to the U.S. mainland and toward Asia and Australia has merits and makes sense.

However, like every visionary, sometimes he, too, has to confront the harsh realities of the market.

To his credit, he was very decisive in reacting and applying the golden rule of any business: Expand if you think the market is there, but be quick to retract if results don’t match the forecast. And that is what he did.

But the poor traffic response that Hawaiian Air had on some of those routes can be pinpointed to a simple truth many of our tourism leaders refuse to acknowledge: Hawaii is no longer competitive. Hawaii has become poor value for the money.

It is not realistic to blame any decline in visitor arrivals to the reduction of aircraft seat availability; airlines are not in the business of promoting destinations but in the business of serving destinations where demand is high.

When arrivals are on the increase, we seem prone to rush into unwarranted enthusiasm, raising expectations, rushing to build more ugly and nondescript skyscrapers without really analyzing what today’s visitors are looking for while choosing a vacation.

People still travel and take vacations. The difference is that now consumers have plenty of choices on where to go and get the best value. They don’t want endless rows of shops; they can buy the same stuff at the many outlets back home at a cheaper price. They don’t want traffic gridlocks, filthy public restrooms, overpriced eateries and dirty beaches littered with tents, rubbish and human waste. We have faded from being a dreamy tropical paradise to just another urban U.S. city by the sea.

Someone at the Hawaii Tourism Authority blames "unfavorable currency exchange." That is a classic. With the dollar at its lowest in years, Hawaii should be attractive to international tourism and home for the American visitors. And like home, it should be welcoming.

Tourism is our main industry and we should not take it for granted that visitors will come. The time has come for us in Hawaii to do some self-examination and decide what we want to be as a tourist destination.

Hawaii seems to have lost its identity as an affordable and desirable tropical paradise, with beautiful weather, pristine beaches, unspoiled scenery and plenty of aloha spirit — a paradise that welcomed visitors with open arms, offered them relaxing and lazy days in the sun, all at a price that was affordable.

We had a blend of new and older buildings, restaurants and little stores that were attractive and fun to visit. Hawaii had a perfect niche with the average American and foreign visitor.

Tourism officials said they are crossing their fingers and pinning hopes on a few additional flights from Taipei, Korea, Australia, Japan and the Philippines that would reverse the decline in arrivals.

What kind of planning strategy is that?

Instead of identifying the problems, fixing them and studying the target markets, our officials keep their fingers crossed. Encouraging! Surely they are taking into consideration that airlines are quick to add flights when the demand is high, and equally quick to withdraw them when demand weakens.

It’s time to realize that we are not the high-rollers’ playground that we dreamed to be, and never will be.

When the economy recovers, and it always does, Hawaii will be just another destination and not the dreamland that we once were. Except we are now an expensive destination with little to offer in return.