Now we'll have an opporunity to see firsthand just how good is the shift
from quantity to quality as per Hawaii tourism. After all, the upscale,
high-end, well-to-do traveler (the "quality") will be significantly less
affected - if affected at all - by economic considerations than the penny
pinching, budget, low-end traveler (the "quantity").

http://www.emc-hawaii.com/draftsummary.htm (look under "Tourism")
http://www.hawaii-nation.org/tourism.html
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?86760e1a-a685-4355-93c6-fe5c85e883c0

I do find it difficult to believe that California visitors constitute
25%% of
Hawaii's tourists as the article below states.

*****************

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9431285

AIR TRAVEL TO THE ISLANDS DROPS SHARPLY FROM YEAR AGO AS SUMMERTIME FARES
NOW AVERAGE $900

By Steve Johnson
Mercury News

Hawaii, which depends heavily on California visitors, has seen a huge plunge
in tourism fueled by sharp fare increases since the bankruptcies two months
ago of its two key links to the Bay Area, Aloha and ATA airlines.

Air travel to the islands from California dropped about 25 percent in
April, compared with a year earlier, according to data made public this week
by Hawaiian tourism officials. It fell nearly 8 percent from all other
destinations.

The price of tickets to Hawaii from the Bay Area has shot up about 50
percent, while fares to Hawaii from all U.S. destinations have increased 25
percent, according to Farecast.com. All U.S. air fares generally are up 20
percent from a year ago.

Part of the decline in air travel was due to Aloha halting flights
March 31
followed by ATA on April 3. But the main reason Californians aren't heading
to Hawaii isn't because they can't get there, a number of travel experts
said. It's mostly because of the soured economy and the increasing cost of
travel.

Hawaiian tourism officials say the increase in Hawaii air fares is similar
to increases they've noticed to other destinations. But that was disputed by
Farecast.com. spokeswoman Anne Taylor Hartzell, who said the rising price of
Hawaiian fares far outstrips that experienced elsewhere.

In its analysis of round-trip tickets to Hawaii from the Bay Area in the
next 14 to 90 days,

href="http://Farecast.com">Farecast.com. found the average price to be
nearly $900, compared with $600 last year.

Some of that increase is no doubt due to soaring jet fuel costs, which
have
prompted many airlines to boost their ticket prices. Moreover, with discount
carrier ATA no longer operating, other airlines still flying to Hawaii have
less incentive to keep fares down, some experts said.

"With ATA and Aloha being out of business, there just isn't a whole lot of
competition," said Helen Baldovinos of Let's Travel in San Jose. She called
the price of travel to Hawaii this summer "outrageous, ridiculous,
preposterous."

The California Travel and Tourism Commission doesn't track air travel out
of the state, according to a spokeswoman, and the U.S. Department of
Transportation hasn't yet published national air travel data for April. But
the federal agency's most recent data shows air travel nationally grew by
1.8 percent for the first two months of this year compared with a year ago.
So the decline in travel to Hawaii appears to be extraordinary.

ATA and Aloha had averaged about seven trips daily to Hawaii from Oakland
International Airport, their Bay Area base of operations. Hawaiian Airlines
picked up some of that traffic when it began flying once a day from Oakland
to Honolulu on May 1.

"We have been considering a second service to Maui" from Oakland, said
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner. But he added, "we're not ready to
make any announcements just yet."

Hawaiian Airlines also flies to Hawaii from Mineta San Jose International
Airport.

After ATA and Aloha ceased operations, United Airlines had said it would
consider adding flights to Hawaii from San Francisco International Airport.
Yet the number of flights from SFO to the islands actually has dropped from
87 in May 2007 to 79 in May this year, said airport spokesman Mike McCarron.
He said those flights now tend to be on bigger planes with more seats, so
the number of passengers carried to Hawaii from SFO today "is really
comparable" to the number from a year ago. But Hawaiian officials say
they're still facing a big deficit in the number of seats heading to their
state, due to the loss of Aloha and ATA.

Some experts said airlines see little economic benefit in adding
flights to
Hawaii because many vacationers, instead of paying to get there, use their
accumulated frequent-flier miles.

Even so, most experts interviewed by the Mercury News said they haven't
heard of people having a hard time obtaining a flight to the islands.

"They have seats available," said Hawaii's Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert,
"if people are flexible in regard to their dates of departures."

Moreover, she noted, a number of hotels are offering promotional deals to
lure more visitors. "They range from the third night free, fourth night
free, breakfast free, on and on," Wienert said.

But persuading more people from the Bay Area and elsewhere to visit Hawaii
may not be easy. Even before Aloha and ATA stopped operations, concerns
about the economy had dampened travel to the islands.

The number of visitors flying there fell 1 percent in 2007 from 2006,
according to congressional testimony provided in April by Michael Reynolds,
an acting assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Moreover, he testified, "the figure for visitors from California - who
make
up 25 percent of Hawaii's tourist market - fell more than 3 percent in
2007," which he primarily attributed to the downturn in California's housing
market.

Given the rise in air fares, it may be tough to turn that trend around.

"We're encouraging our clients to look to other destinations where values
remain," said Marc Casto, president of Santa Clara-based Casto Travel.
Besides recommending Southeast Asia and parts of Mexico, he said, "Costa
Rica is a great destination for families."