Loss of Japanese tourism will hurt Hawaii

[Lomistick]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Why post the linked story? -- Because it is highly relevant news for Hawaii ... obviously so. A quick check of any headlines service will show at least 3 or 4 more stories on the same subject. While the loss of life and homes in Japan is certainly the highest tragedy, the repercussions in Japan's own economy will continue to stress that nation and its peoples in many ways for a very long time to come. That stress will also be felt internationally at varying levels, some slight, some intense. Those economic repercussions abroad will, in some cases also be turned to fresh opportunity. In other situations they will cause additional hardship for persons whose survival is economically reliant on Japanese dollars.

Hawaii is heavily reliant on Japanese tourism dollars.

To whatever extent relatives and others connected to Japanese already living in Hawaii also decide to emigrate to the islands, those new residents will bring neither tourism dollars nor likely much in new investment dollars. New residents need earnings opportunities and infrastructural support. This adds up to a very interesting and tough dynamic for Hawaii. As the articles are discussing: this all comes just when Hawaiian tourism has started to rebound.

Sure seems like a valid topic for discussion to me. War and revolution in the Mid-East mean higher speculative fuel prices. Disaster in Japan means a considerable threat to Hawaiian economic stability.

From another article (Reuters News Service):
"Visitor arrivals from Japan, Hawaii's second-largest tourist marketdropped 86 percent last Friday outside North America, , immediately following the 9.0 temblor, said Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.... Some 1.2 million Japanese typically visit Hawaii each year, accounting for 18 percent of the Aloha state's tourism and $2 billion in annual revenues."

The statistic quoted above: "Hawaii's second-largest tourist marketdropped 86 percent last Friday" is not "rumor of possible outcomes" ... it is a documented, occurring reality already -- and one that is linked to a $2 billion annual state revenue source.

Yeah, that's relevant.

Fair enough man.

However, it has only been a week after the event. Let's not jump the gun.
Let's wait to see how this plays out.

I don't think it's a good idea to go ahead and expect the worst case scenario. For all we know it might not be all that bad and it might bounce back quickly.

Right now the people of Japan are just being freaked out by the media. In my opinion that is the main source of the problem.

When this whole Fukushima thing dies down I think things will return back to normal. It might take a month or two before the people here start realizing that everything is fine in the Tokyo area.

[timesup]

There is a ton of speculation out there and I think it is too soon to judge. I personally don't think it will have a lasting impact on tourism to Hawaii. The earthquake and tsunami as horrible as it was didn't effect most of Japan. I live in Fukuoka and we didn't even feel a thing. Even Tokyo made it through relatively unscathed save for some aftershocks they are still experiencing. Some of the headlines are unnecessarily scaring people. I visit Hawaii three times a year on average with my next trip planned for the end of April. I have no plans to change my itinerary and I suspect most Japanese feel the same.

[stan4]

Yup. We'll be there in May.

[Lisa From Maui]

I am glad Nullgeo wrote the original post. Even though the article was from NY times, they had the same info on the front page of our local paper last week. Hawai'i depends on tourism, and tourism is gonna go down, AGAIN. I'm not saying all tourism from Japan is gonna go away. I am saying some tourism will, guaranteed. Thanks for posting Nullgeo!

[AlohaHuey]

It'll rebound in three months, or less.