GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Eager to capture their Hawaiian honeymoon, newlyweds Darius Gallinis and Angela Gallinis of Portland, Ore. record the moment at Point Panic.
Modern brides love Honeymoon in Hawaii? Modern Bride magazine appears married to the idea.
island honeymoons
By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comHawaii is the top honeymoon destination for 2002, according to the magazine's sixth annual survey of U.S. travel agents. Mexico was No. 2.
The state received the same honor from Modern Bride last year. This year, Hawaii was also No. 1 in romance and beaches, Modern Bride said. The lists and rankings appear in the December/January issue of Modern Bride magazine, which hits newsstands Tuesday.
Modern Bride, owned by Conde Nast Publications, has a paid circulation of 385,062, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
"It definitely projects Hawaii," said Dianna Shitanishi, director of weddings at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii.
Hawaii's basic features make for a laundry list of reasons why people like to honeymoon here, she said, citing: "The beauty of the islands. The tropics. The weather. The view. The aloha spirit."
For its part, Modern Bride touted the "soft green sand at Mahana Beach on the Big Island, the red sand at Kaihalulu Beach on Maui and the jet-black sand on the Big Island's Punaluu Beach."
Other attractions are the azure seas, surfing, golf, hula, eating local foods, drinking mai tais, cruising and getting lei'd, wrote Modern Bride's Lisa Milbrand.
Hawaii honeymoons are becoming more common.
In the first eight months of the year, honeymoon visits to the state were up nearly 12 percent, to 409,332 trips from 366,531 last year, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
A big contributor to that growth has been a 25 percent rise in the Japanese honeymoon market, which comes despite an overall drop in Japanese tourists to the state. Other big markets for Hawaii include the Philippines, Hong Kong and Europe, Shitanishi said.
There's a good reason why Hawaii's honeymoon growth runs counter to the post-Sept. 11 decrease in visitors, Shitanishi said. Marriage has become more important to couples.
"People reevaluated their thought process and family became a very important thing when you realize it may not always be there," she said. She's worked with customers who were together for as long as 18 years before deciding to tie the knot after Sept. 11.
Weddings are not called off by economic trends, she said, while noting the size and type of wedding may change.
Modern Bride's survey of travel agents ranks the world's 50 best honeymoons. The rest of the top 10, in order, are Jamaica, Tahiti, Bermuda, Italy, Las Vegas, Aruba, St. Lucia and Florida.
Travel agents told the magazine that the average honeymoon costs $3,719 and lasts eight days; that 46 percent of honeymooners stay at a resort, 29 percent stay in a large hotel and 24 percent stay in a small hotel, not counting the nearly 20 percent who take a honeymoon cruise. Only 8 percent of couples staged a "destination" wedding with an average of 46 guests.
