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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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More reasons to be proud of Honolulu
Honolulu is the most favorite city in America for overall travel, romantic escapes, relaxing retreats, active or adventure vacations and for weather, toppling San Diego in the latter category.
Readers of Travel + Leisure magazine and viewers of CNN Headline News voted online between March 7 and June 15. Results are online and in the magazine that will hit newsstands Sept. 23.
Voters were asked to rate any of 25 cities on 45 aspects in categories including quality of life and visitor experience, culture, food and dining, nightlife, people, shopping and type of trip.
Votes by residents and visitors were calculated separately for separate lists, but were combined for overall city rankings.
There were 60,000 responses last year, but more than 125,000 this year.
Honolulu received better ratings from visitors than from its own residents, as was the case in last year's inaugural survey.
Visitors gave us five No. 1 ratings: Thanksgiving travel, winter or Christmas travel, weather, relaxing retreats, and romantic escapes.
Residents gave Honolulu zero No. 1 ratings.
Our highest self-grades were No. 2s for diversity of people and for our weather, same as in 2007. However, enough visitors rated us No. 1 that we unseated San Diego this year. On this list, anyway.
Hawaii residents do feel Honolulu is in the top five for Thanksgiving travel and winter or Christmas travel, at No. 4; and we're No. 5 for attractive people, we think.
Not that there's anything wrong with Southern hospitality, but seeing that Charleston, S.C., got rated No. 1 for friendliest people, given our aloha spirit, hurt a bit.
We were No. 5 on the friendliness list, behind other southern cities and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. Uff da, y'all, to combine Minnesotan and Southern terms.
The magazine's Web site has a "Compare Cities" link that will run customizable comparisons of City A versus City B by category. Choose Honolulu, Charleston and the People category and the comparison calculator declares Honolulu the winner.
That feels better.
New York City got the most No. 1 ratings this year, for such aspects as shopping, classical music and theater. Visitors to and residents of Hawaii ranked Hawaii's theater scene last among the 25 cities in the survey, while the Big Apple ranked last for peace and quiet.
We, on the other hand, are top five, both in peace and quiet and overall quality of life and visitor experience.
There is one final category to vote on -- America's Favorite City overall -- and ballots can be cast online for the next four weeks.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
erika@starbulletin.com