Hawai'i territorial legislators realized the potential for tourism in the early 1900s and established the Hawaii Promotion Committee.
Yet for most of the first half of the 20th century, travel to America's exotic Pacific outpost remained out of reach for all but the wealthy. Part of the reason was the Great Depression and two world wars.
Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, most Americans weren't even sure where to find O'ahu on the map. By the end of World War II, most everyone had watched Hawai'i's 'ukulele-strumming hula dancers in the newsreels shown in movie theaters. Many liked what they saw enough to want to actually visit Waikiki in person.
Two simultaneous, historic events in 1959 made that dream a reality for more people than had ever been imagined: Hawai'i statehood and commercial jet travel from the U.S. Mainland to the Islands.
Postwar Americans with leisure time and extra money on their hands began flocking to Waikiki in such numbers that for a while, there weren't enough hotel rooms to accommodate the crowds of visitors.
A million visitors reached Waikiki in 1962.
Twelve years after Hawai'i become a state, tourism had replaced the military as the island's leading industry. Less than a decade later, tourism dwarfed defense and agriculture together.
Aside from an occasional setback — such as after the first Gulf War and the 9/11 attacks — tourism continued to accelerate not only on O'ahu, but on the Neighbor Islands as well.
By 2005, the average daily visitor census in Hawai'i had reached 184,000, and the yearly total had climbed to 7.5 million visitors.
