Visitors applaud Hawai'i experience
By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer
News flash: Something good happened in tourism.
An overwhelming 98 percent of all U.S. and Japanese visitors surveyed by the state in the first six months of the year gave their Hawai'i vacations two thumbs up, ranking the experience "excellent" or "above average."
According to figures released yesterday by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, 99 percent of those happy customers on the U.S. side and 98 percent on the Japanese side said they would likely recommend Hawai'i as a vacation spot.
The survey shone a bright spot on an otherwise dismal tourism landscape that has been decimated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Visitor industry executives were not surprised by the figures, but said they were still pleased.
"It's more of the same," said Karen Hughes, regional director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels Hawaii. "This is the happiest place on earth, contrary to what Disney says ... Our job is to get the word out."
The numbers almost mirror the responses from the last visitor-satisfaction survey in 1998. This survey launches a new effort to track visitor satisfaction every six months, said the state's chief economist Pearl Imada Iboshi.
More than 97 percent of U.S. visitors said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with Hawai'i's accommodations, and more than 96 percent were happy with the restaurants. More than 95 percent ranked the airports high, and 98 percent gave the beaches high marks.
Japanese visitors were less enthusiastic, with 93 percent "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the accommodations, and 81 percent with the restaurants.
Only 86 percent said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the airports, while 95 percent were happy with the beaches.
The department mailed the surveys to recent visitors. It received 1,200 responses from Japanese visitors, for a response rate of 31 percent. Sixteen-hundred visitors responded on the U.S. side, for a rate of 48 percent.
Michele Kayal can be reached at mkayal@honoluluadvertiser.com
