• Tourism growth continues Tourism growth continues Expect same 2.5 million airline seats available to Hawai‘i from March through May. That count is an increase of 13.5 percent over the three-month period in 2004, according to state officials. Watch for
• Tourism growth continues
Tourism growth continues
Expect same 2.5 million airline seats available to Hawai‘i from March through May.
That count is an increase of 13.5 percent over the three-month period in 2004, according to state officials.
Watch for Kaua‘i to have 17.5 percent more seats available to our island during this period, which is highlighted by spring-break travelers from the Mainland and Golden Week vacationers from Japan.
The high numbers show that we may have the busiest tourism season ever this summer, during one of Kaua‘i”s annual peak seasons for visitor arrivals. March and May can be slow periods some years, so the strong numbers being put out by the bottom line in the visitor industry — the airlines that bring visitors to our shores — are a good indicator.
What this will mean for local residents is more traffic at more times during the day. Areas like the Kapa‘a-Wailua corridor of Kuhio Highway and the Kapa‘a bypass are getting traffic backups in midmorning and other non-commuting hours. Our beaches will be more crowded, too, with the record number of visitors heading to our shores. The strong number of arrivals should guarantee a good, if not great, year for many local businesses, plenty of work for our visitor-industry labor force, and fuel an expansion in the already-booming, resort-development sector.
This increase in visitors will mean patience is needed at times in situations where the world of tourism and the world of local residents overlaps. Aloha needs to be shown on our roads and beaches, in our parks and on our trails.
As the past decades have shown, the visitor industry can be a fickle one. Hurricanes, economic downturns, Middle East wars, national tragedies like the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, all can cause us to tighten our belts as the visitor counts drop.
The current boom in visitor arrivals needs to be taken in its best light, a chance for Kaua‘i to prosper, and for Kaua‘i to show it cares.
