Isles losing
appeal with
U.S. tourists

Nevada drops Hawaii into a
tie for fourth as a favorite
getaway, a travel survey shows

By Pete Pichaske
Phillips News Service

WASHINGTON -- Hawaii has dropped from its traditional spot as the third-favorite winter getaway of American travelers, its palm trees and sunny beaches supplanted by the neon lights and gambling tables of Nevada.

A survey released today by the Travel Industry Association of America found that only 12 percent of Americans name Hawaii as one of their three dream destinations for the winter. The figure was down from 18 percent last year and from 23 percent in 1992, the first year of the survey.

Nevada, with 15 percent, jumped ahead of Hawaii to third place. Arizona, also with 12 percent, tied the isles for fourth.

It was the first time Hawaii was not named the third-favorite destination.

The top two choices, Florida (41 percent) and California (35), remained the same, although both dipped in popularity from last year, according to the TIA survey of 1,500 adults conducted in late October.

Overall, the TIA predicted that winter vacation travel will increase by a modest 1 percent this season.

"Travelers appear to have developed an uneasiness about the economy," said Suzanne Cook, TIA's senior vice president for research. "In that kind of environment, people tend to be cautious about their travel plans."

Hawaii tourism official were neither surprised nor alarmed by the findings.

Las Vegas is adding large numbers of hotel rooms, they noted, and Nevada spent $91 million last year to attract tourists, nearly three times as much as Hawaii.

"They've got this incentive to fill all those rooms," said Barbara Okamoto, research director for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau. "They've been spending pretty aggressively, and most of it's for Las Vegas."

She also pointed out that mainlanders can drive to states like Nevada, Florida and California for a vacation, but not Hawaii.

Moreover, domestic winter tourism is perhaps the least of the isles' worries when it comes to tourism, according to the travel experts.

The number of domestic visitors for the first 10 months of this year is up 5.9 percent over the same period last year, according to HVCB numbers, and hotel rooms for the winter -- especially on the neighbor islands -- are scarce.

"We max out over the holidays," said the HVCB's Gail Chew. "On the neighbor islands, it's hard to find rooms."

The TIA's Cook said the national travel industry is well aware of Hawaii's tourism woes.

But the survey results, she said, are as much a result of Nevada's aggressive growth as Hawaii's decline. She said Las Vegas is emerging as an entertainment mecca as much as a gambling mecca, and therefore attracting more families.