Hawaii’s tourism industry strives to boost Japan market

Tourism on the islands is up but international markets, especially Japan, still need a boost.

13 Comments

  1. pre pandemic the yen was 105 to 1 USD, now it's 145 to 1 USD, so basically their currency is jacked 40% on top of the ridiculous price hikes Hawaii has embraced since the pandemic. How can you expect them to even want to come here now?

  2. Hawaii needs to change the strategy. Japanese people have alot to do where they live. They come here once and look at a useless rail and homeless everywhere. Why would u ever come to hawaii for those 2 reasons

  3. Japanese can vacation in tropical Okinawa, just a couple hours flight from Tokyo. Same language, same currency, and same cultural values. Okinawa has several resorts similar or better than the best in Hawaii. Word got out that Hawaii overcharges visitors for everything. Hotel tax, resort fees, and fees to visit every popular tourist site like Pali Lookout, etc. It’s over Hawaii Visitors Bureau. Okinawa surpassed Hawaii with annual tourists of over 13 million compared to Hawaii’s annual tourist count of 12 million. Once west coast residents figure out it’s cheaper to fly direct to Japan to visit Okinawa, they’ll bypass Hawaii too. Remember the world famous Waikiki is now known as “it’s a beach surrounded by a bunch of high rises”. Speaking of which San Diego has awesome beaches and authentic old school beach towns.