National Hawaii Day is today, July 5. To mark the occasion, yours truly, a 35-time visitor to the islands, is offering up some thoughts on special hotels and resorts you should consider for your next trip. Remember to visit responsibly and respectfully. Side note: Travel + Leisure came out with their list of the top 20 resorts of Hawaii on Tuesday, July 9. I believe eight of their top picks are on my list below. O’AHU Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina: Resting alongside the Aulani Disney resort outside of Honolulu, this is a chill spot overlooking a pretty Read more
Waikiki Beach
There are some new spots on the Dr. Beach list of top beaches in the United States and Hawaii takes three of the top seven places. Dr. Stephen Leatherman, who calls himself “Doctor Beach,” has put out his ranking of top beaches for 2024. And there’s a new King, or rather Duke, at the top. For 2024, Leatherman puts Duke Kahanamoku Beach on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu in the top spot. Wailea Beach on Maui (I was there last fall) was third, and Po’ipu Beach on Kaua’i (a long-time fave of mine) came in at number seven. I’m also Read more
Canadian tourism is setting an ambitious goal to move up the tourism ladder. Whether it can be achieved is something nobody will know for several years. Destination Canada on Thursday May 16 launched its new tourism strategy, ‘A World of Opportunity‘ which sets a firm focus on transforming the Canadian tourism sector and catapulting Canada back into the top seven global destinations by 2030. Destination Canada President and CEO, Marsha Walden, and Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism, officially presented the tourism roadmap designed to increase Canada’s global competitiveness and bring in up to $160 billion in annual revenue by Read more
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) has launched new targeted campaigns as part of its global marketing and visitor education efforts. The purpose of these initiatives is to reinvigorate responsible travel demand from key markets around the world to the Hawaiian Islands. “We are being more assertive in our messaging strategy with inspiring campaigns that spotlight Hawai‘i’s people, culture and experiences unlike anywhere else in the world,” said Mufi Hannemann, HTA board chair. “We need to ensure that the Hawaiian Islands stay top-of-mind among travelers amidst the competitive global market, especially as we head into the summer and fall.” “The Read more
New research has revealed the most picturesque beaches in America, with California’s La Jolla Cove coming out on top. Florida and Hawaii also cleaned up.M The study by hotel company Westgate Resorts analyzed the number of Instagram hashtags for the most visited beaches across the country. These hashtag numbers were then compared with each beach’s length to see which beaches had the highest number of hashtags per meter. California’s La Jolla Cove takes the crown as the most Instagrammable beach in America, with a whopping 4,257 hashtags per meter. The beach has had 366,068 hashtagged Instagram posts made about it, and Read more
