Hawaii’s islands are not the top choice of travelers using TripAdvisor.com.
Not quite sure how this happened, but Kauai (No. 2), Maui (No. 5) and Hawaii island (No. 8) all were soundly beaten by Washington state’s San Juan Island in the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice polling for 2013.
San Juan, part of a 172-island archipelago in the Salish Sea in Washington State, also ranked No. 4 among TripAdvisor’s Top 10 islands in the world, a list including two islands in French Polynesia and no Hawaiian Islands.
Not that we’re bitter or anything.
Hawaii’s visitor count continues to grow, and those visitors’ spending is growing as well, according to figures released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. About 675,517 tourists visited Hawaii last month, up 7.8 percent from February of last year. Similar figures for San Juan Island could not be found online. The Washington State Tourism Office befell the budget axe in 2011, leaving it as the only state without a tourism office. The work of promoting the state to visitors is handled by a private alliance.
There’s no TripAdvisor Islands list from 2012 against which to compare this year’s ranking, but Hawaii fared very well in the 2012 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice lists of destinations. Honolulu was No. 5 in the U.S. (and No. 20 in the world), Lahaina was 21st and Kailua-Kona was at No. 25. Washington state only had one destination on the list, Seattle, at No. 8. Nanny nanny boo boo!
At any rate, given the rise of San Juan’s popularity in the travel press in recent times, the Pacific Northwest isles are experiencing something familiar to Hawaii residents — an influx of wealthy people from elsewhere — and all the, um, interesting developments (quite literally) that accompany such influxes.
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On the Net:
>> is.gd/TripAdvIsles2013
SPEAKING OF TRAVEL
Tourism to various destinations is the stuff of which Gary Warner has built a career.
The travel editor for the Orange County Register will be in Hawaii next month to speak to the Hawaii Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Among his topics, “the sometimes whiplash-inducing changes in travel media coverage,” he said, via email.
His employer is a buzz topic in the newspaper world these days because it is adding staff, pages, sections and money to its print product, he said. “The new ownership group, led by Aaron Kushner, believes that subscribers are the key to the future and that the digital dimes — really pennies — of online advertising are not a viable option,” Warner said.
His standalone travel section is now all-color and is eight to 10 pages long.
“The Register takes no freebies or press trips,” he said (nor does the Star-Advertiser). “We always pay our own way and normally travel anonymously,” Warner said.
He has been to our islands more than 20 times and says Oahu’s North Shore is his favorite place.
“My second ‘hat’ is to cover surfing,” and he comes each December to cover the Triple Crown. He’s been blessed to witness the Eddie Aikau big-wave contest twice.
He doesn’t surf himself, at least not using a board, but he does body-surf. His favorite spots are Maui’s Hamoa Beach and — hold your breath — Sandy’s.
While Waikiki is the epicenter of Hawaii’s visitor industry, “my preference … is for the lush side of Hawaii”; he cites Hanalei on Kauai, North Kohala and Volcano town on Hawaii island, and “Hana side on Maui.”
As for eats, he loves the food, “from a bag of malasadas from Leonard’s to a credit card-busting dinner of moi at Mama’s Fish House.”
“Looking forward to my visit,” he added.
Registration for the luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. April 17 at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse at Royal Hawaiian Center with the noon program to last an hour. The PRSA Hawaii website will be updated for online reservations, which are $25 for local members, $30 for national members, $20 for student members or $40 for nonmembers. The event will be live-streamed and will be $10 for nonmembers, and free for off-island members.
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On the Net:
>> prsahawaii.org
