The Impact of 9/11 and Other Terrible Global Events on Tourism in the U.S. and Hawaii

This paper reviews recent trends in travel and tourism in the U.S. and Hawaii to ascertain how the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and subsequent terrible global events affected their tourism flows and the manner and pace of their recovery. We note that tourism in the U.S. has not fully recovered from 9/11 and other international shocks; indeed recovery of international travel to the U.S. may be a long way off. By contrast, Hawaii tourism is enjoying robust growth in the aftermath of 9/11 as growth in tourist arrivals from the U.S. mainland has more than offset declines in Japanese and other international visitors. We suggest that Hawaiis current tourism boom is in part explained by the diversion of U.S. travel from foreign travel. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of vector error correction models to generate dynamic visitor forecasts which we use to ascertain whether tourism in Hawaii has fully recovered from 9/11 and other terrible international events. The paper considers policy options for facilitating the recovery of international tourism to the U.S.Tourism, Terrorism, Impact, Recovery

Transportation energy strategy: Project {number_sign}5 of the Hawaii Energy Strategy Development Program

This study was prepared for the State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) as part of the Hawaii Energy Strategy program. Authority and responsibility for energy planning activities, such as the Hawaii Energy Strategy, rests with the State Energy Resources Coordinator, who is the Director of DBEDT. Hawaii Energy Strategy Study No. 5, Transportation Energy Strategy Development, was prepared to: collect and synthesize information on the present and future use of energy in Hawaii`s transportation sector, examine the potential of energy conservation to affect future energy demand; analyze the possibility of satisfying a portion of the state`s future transportation energy demand through alternative fuels; and recommend a program targeting energy use in the state`s transportation sector to help achieve state goals. The analyses and conclusions of this report should be assessed in relation to the other Hawaii Energy Strategy Studies in developing a comprehensive state energy program. 56 figs., 87 tabs

Making Political Tourism As an Alternative Model for Hawaii Indigenous Development

The current tourism business model, which is visitor-centered, shows how tourism has strong negative impacts to the host and the place. It happens in many places in the world where tourism business is run by outsiders or with outside capital, and creating conflict with local population. Political tourism is an alternative to the current business model because it looks at the business from the other side: the host-place-centered. Political tourism can be seen as the first step in "indigenizing" capitalism based on local values. The proposed model addresses subsystems in tourism business components, i.e. the transaction, transfer, and treatment systems. It suggests several strategies to make political tourism happen with reference to Native Hawaiians tourism development. It offers some lessons that can be applicable to other places in Asia and the Pacific

ENTICING JAPANESE TOURISTS BACK TO HAWAII: ARE CASINO\u27S THE ANSWER?

With the explosion of casino development in the Asia Pacific as well as the United States, casino gambling has become more culturally embraced as a recreational activity. The purpose of this study was to re-examine the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii from Japanese-speaking tourists’ perspective and compare these results from a previous study completed a decade ago. With the continuing decrease of Japanese visitors to Hawaii, and with the importance of the Japanese market to Hawaii’s economy, state officials are considering other forms of tourism, such as casino tourism, to help revive the Japanese tourism market and increase Hawaii’s global competitiveness. By analyzing the responses of the current Japanese-speaking tourists to Hawaii and comparing these responses to the Japanese tourists surveyed 10 years ago (1996), this research attempted to determine if the Japanese tourists in 2006 have changed their perception on the legalization of casino gambling in Hawaii. Although the findings of this study indicated that the 2006 Japanesespeaking tourists have changed their perspective from past studies on the effects that the legalization of casino gambling would have on Hawaii, future research should focus on other segments of the tourist market

The Impact of 9/11 and Other Terrible Global Events on Tourism in the U.S. and Hawaii

This paper reviews recent trends in travel and tourism in the U.S. and Hawaii to ascertain how the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and subsequent terrible global events affected their tourism flows and the manner and pace of their recovery. We note that tourism in the U.S. has not fully recovered from 9/11 and other international shocks; indeed recovery of international travel to the U.S. may be a long way off. By contrast, Hawaii tourism is enjoying robust growth in the aftermath of 9/11 as growth in tourist arrivals from the U.S. mainland has more than offset declines in Japanese and other international visitors. We suggest that Hawaii's current tourism boom is in part explained by the diversion of U.S. travel from foreign travel. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of vector error correction models to generate dynamic visitor forecasts which we use to ascertain whether tourism in Hawaii has fully recovered from 9/11 and other terrible international events. The paper considers policy options for facilitating the recovery of international tourism to the U.S.

An Examination of Factors Affecting Japanese Tourism in Hawaii

The Japanese tourist market is a crucial component of the Hawaii tourism economy due to both market size and higher per capita expenditures in comparison with other key markets for the state. Over the past decade, annual Japanese tourist arrivals have decreased significantly off a peak in 1997. This study examines various supply and demand factors, which may be influencing Japanese tourist arrivals to Hawaii using regression analysis. Results show that five of eight variables significantly influence the monthly Japanese tourist numbers to Hawaii: monthly total Japanese overseas tourists, available air seats, average room rates, available room units, and change in security checking procedure. Meanwhile, three variables were not found to be significant influencers: mean monthly exchange rate ($/100 Yen), anti-smoking law, and airline fuel surcharges. These results do not support the anecdotes and conjectures about the ecreasing number of Japanese tourists to Hawaii

Political Economy of Property Tax Reform: Hawaii’s Experiment with Split Rate Property Taxation

Economic theory suggests that switching from a general property tax to a split-rate tax increases land use efficiency and stimulates urban core development while preserving the environment and reducing urban sprawl. Under split-rate property taxation, land is typically taxed at a significantly higher rate than improvements. Beginning in 1965 Hawaii experimented with a statewide split-rate property tax system to encourage economic growth and effect land reform. The experiment was ended in 1977. Following the transfer of property taxing powers to the counties in 1978, some counties brought back the split-rate property tax at times. Since 2006, Kauai County has adopted the unusual practice of taxing improvements at a higher rate than land for most property classes. This paper chronicles and explains the rationale behind Hawaii state and county experiments with split rate property taxation.Property taxes, split rate property taxation, tourist taxes

Modeling the supply and demand for tourism: a fully identified VECM approach

Cointegration analysis has gradually appeared in the empirical tourism literature. However, the focus has been exclusively on the demand side, neglecting potentially-important supply-side influences and risking endogeneity bias. One reason for this omission may be the difficulty identifying structural relationships in a system setting. We estimate a vector error correction model of the supply and demand for Hawaii tourism using a theory-directed sequential reduction method suggested by Hall et al. (2002). We compare forecasts for the selected model and for two competing models. Diebold and Mariano (1995) tests for forecast accuracy demonstrate the satisfactory performance of this approach.catastrophe, Cointegration, Vector error correction model, Identification, Tourism demand and supply analysis, Hawaii