HAWAIIAN AIRLINES asked its remaining employees --
4%, or about 150 people, were laid off in October -- for major
concessions in its ongoing struggle to achieve financial health.
Though specific numbers are not known, the givebacks could come in
the form of reductions in pay or benefits. An effort to win
concessions follows a 10% reduction in pay agreed to in December by
employees of interisland competitor Aloha Airlines, allowing that
carrier to secure approval for a $40.5 million federal loan
guarantee.
A YEAR-END BOOST from the Honolulu Marathon
helped Hawaii's visitor totals to rise to 6.4 million last year, a
slight improvement -- 0.9% -- over 2001 but still short of the peak
of 7 million in 2000. According to preliminary figures from the
state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism,
domestic arrivals rose 2.7% over last year. More significantly,
domestic tourists stayed longer, which accounted for a 2.8%
increase in visitor days, compared with 2001. International
arrivals and visitor days continue to suffer, however, remaining
2.9% and 3.6% below last year, respectively. Oahu is the only
island that lagged below last year's levels in visitor days
(-2.6%). Overall, visitors spent an average of 9.34 days in Hawaii
last year. Through November, visitor expenditures totaled $9.2
billion, up 2.8% over 2001. Beginning next month, the DBEDT will
work with the marketing arm of the Hawaii Tourism Authority to
break down visitor data by month, island and major market area to
more accurately assess marketing decisions, according to Frank
Haas, HTA's director of tourism marketing.
STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts Hawaii joined the
ranks of hotels boasting live Web cameras. Located at the Sheraton
Maui, Westin Maui and Kauai's Princeville Resort, on-line cameras
can transport Web surfers to the locations with the mere click of a
mouse. Visit www.starwood.com/hawaii and click on the HawaiiLIVE
link.
THE COST of mold keeps rising. Hilton Hotels
expects to spend $55 million to eradicate mold in the Hilton
Hawaiian Village's Kalia Tower. That's more than half the cost of
the tower's construction. All 453 rooms in the Waikiki hotel's
newest tower have been closed since last July, but are expected to
re-open in late spring. Parts of Kalia Tower, including its
restaurant, remain open.
CULTURAL UPDATE
• "A Weaving Retrospective: Fifty Years of Hui Textiles and Art"
will be on display at the Academy Art Center at Linekona, across
the street from the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Feb. 17 through March
6. Look for needlewoven necklaces, tapestries, off-loom sculptural
pieces and glass combined with lauhala. For information, call (808)
532-8742 or visit www.honoluluacademy.org.
• Grammy nominees Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum will perform bluegrass
and acoustic music at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Theater at 7:30
p.m. on Feb. 7. Admission is $18. Call (808) 532-8700 for
details.
CLARIFICATION: The last Hawaii e-letter might
have given you the wrong impression regarding the renovations at
the Aston Waikiki. The renovations are finished ... and they're
fabulous! The hotel boasts the recent addition of new retailers
like Hawaii Five-O and Wolfgang Puck Express on the Kalakaua Street
level. Coming soon to fill the last empty spaces are Kuai Market
and Cold Stone Creamery.