Hawaii spots top travel survey
Tourism officials credit reinvestment with helping push Waikiki up the list
The neighbor islands and Honolulu are two of the top picks for summer U.S. leisure travel by Americans, according to a travel study released yesterday by Orlando, Fla.-based Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, and Yankelovich Inc.
Americans who were surveyed as part of the YPB&R/Yankelovich's 14th annual National Leisure Travel Monitor rated the neighbor islands as their top choice for leisure travel. State parks were picked second most often, with Honolulu following at a close third.
The travel habits of more than 1,300 U.S. adults were surveyed by YPB&R/Yankelovich for the 2006 National Travel Monitor, which measures the travel preferences and intentions of Americans.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority, which just authorized an additional $400,000 in spending for cooperative advertising programs with airlines, was pleased by the results of the survey, said Frank Haas, HTA marketing director.
"This shows that we have continued strength in our brand in terms of developing a desire to come to Hawaii and to the neighbor islands," Haas said. "We've gotten the message out that there are lots of things to see and do in Hawaii."
The neighbor islands, which topped the 2004 destination wish list, have been the focus of recent HTA marketing efforts, he said. At the same time, reinvestment in Waikiki has increased the popularity of this urban destination, Haas said.
"I'm pleased that Honolulu has placed where it did," Haas said. "Five or six or even 10 years ago, Waikiki was not seen as such a desirable destination. Now, it's coming back."
Among U.S. states, California and Florida kept their spot as perennial favorites in the survey -- though interest in visiting Florida declined significantly from 2005 levels due to weather concerns among survey respondents. Hawaii, Arizona and Colorado rounded out the top five.
The popularity of the neighbor islands and Honolulu showed a significant gain over 2005 levels. About 75 percent of the adults surveyed said that they would like to visit a neighbor island, up from 63 percent a year ago. Honolulu garnered 71 percent of the vote, an increase of 12 percentage points over the 2005 level.
About 20 percent of those surveyed said they would be extremely or very interested in visiting Hawaii, a drop of 2 percentage points from the previous year's results.
"While the neighbor islands and Honolulu showed significant change from 2005 levels, Hawaii's change didn't show a statistically significant difference from last year to this year," said Rod Caborn, a spokesman for YPB&R.
