Visitor arrivals to Maui were down sharply following the August 8 wildfires, new statistics show. Arrivals declined 57.1% in September 2023 compared to September 2022, with visitor spending also down significantly by 52.6% to $203.2 million. Statewide, total visitor spending declined by 9.6 percent to $1.37 billion, with 7.4% fewer visitors during September. So, it’s not Maui that’s taken a hit. I was on the island of Lana’i on the weekend and merchants told me that the drastic reduction in ferry passengers going to Lana’i is having a big impact on their bottom line. “I’d say one-half our business is Read more

  Canadians have a great new way to get to one of the top destinations in Florida. Porter Airlines today launched daily, roundtrip service between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Tampa. This is the first U.S. route operated by any airline with the state-of-the-art Embraer E195-E2. Porter is the North American launch customer for Embraer’s newest family of E2 jets. The 132-seat, all-economy aircraft has a two-by-two configuration, which means no middle seat on any Porter flight.  Porter passengers also enjoy free WiFi, a selection of premium snacks, and free beer and wine served in glassware. Priority check-in, extra legroom seats, Read more

Petyr Beck has been on Maui for a day, but he’s still not hanging out at the beach or relaxing under a palm tree. Instead, he’s a mile or so from the coast, knee-deep in dry grass, hacking away at invasive trees in the hot sun of the Olowalu Valley. He slides a small saw back and forth several times, grabs a loose trunk of a haole koa tree and tosses it into a pile by the side of a dirt road. Then it’s on the next one. Beck is one of several volunteers who’ve showed up in the valley on a Read more

Easy, relatively quick and surprisingly restful. I recently took the Caledonian Sleeper car from London to Edinburgh and on to Inverness for an overnight trip. I hadn’t slept on a train since, I believe, 1979. I was intrigued by the idea, especially since my 91-year-old father and his 92-year-old lady friend recently slept three nights on a train between California and Buffalo. I was greeted by a company employee outside the train at Euston station in London and headed to my assigned cabin, a Club Room En Suite. I had a comfortable but narrow bed with a bunk bed on Read more

We were lucky enough to spend 24 hours (okay, maybe 22) in Glasgow recently. We had a fine Scottish afternoon tea, enjoyed a wonderful music-themed tour, had drinks at a pub, dined at a nice restaurant and bedded down at the sleek, new Virgin Hotel. Here’s a look at our brief stay. A MARVELOUS MUSIC TOUR We met our Glasgow Music City Tour guide, local music critic Fiona Shepherd, outside the Clutha and Victoria pub in town, one of the city’s oldest. She told us she had reviewed a Shania Twain performance at The OVO Hydro, the city’s splashy arena. Read more

“Pack your patience and grace.” “Do not enter the impacted area of Lahaina Town or take photos of the area, even from afar.” “Support local businesses.” These are some of the messages continually being shared by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), as one of the main questions being asked by visitors is how they can support the people of Maui in its recovery. This is SO critical. As readers of my blog know, I deeply love with Hawai’i and its people. And I dearly love Maui, an island I have visited 30-plus times in my life. I realize there are Read more