With Expedia, Orbitz, and other online travel stocks hovering just above the basement, news of Facebook and Google dancing around the travel niche cannot be thrilling. Online travel is about to take off like a rocket. For some that is.

Google’s announcement of the acquisition of ITA signaled the cocking of the proverbial hammer, if you are in the business of 21st Century online booking that is. Now enter Facebook, a very interesting interjection into travel dollars indeed. Facebook announced the buyout of the social network NextStop, or rather the expertise and data therein. What can they be up to? Well, a piece of $120 billion dollar online travel pie.

According to Forrester Research, last year, online travel bookings represent nearly 40 percent of all booking bucks. Expedia, Orbitz, and a very few others have (so far) pocketed the lion’s share. But, in all honesty, just how long did they foresee such a virtual monopoly going forward? Their problem, from my perspective, is not much different from any other huge and profitable company – complacency – even greed. Why? Let me explain a little.

Expedia has proliferated the web with what you might call “satellites of success” – TripAdvisor being the biggest. The original innovation there, was significant – taking advantage of “the crowd” in as far a travel ratings and the vast network of affiliations – of course. But, like so many traditional thinking companies, Expedia only paid lip service to the social element. And then, for the most part they rested on their laurels – opps. What burns me about companies like Expedia? Their almost unlimited resources to create something far better – for you – and for them.

Get the full story at Everything PR

To coincide with its new brand and website launch, Kiwi Collection has re-imagined WOW Travel as an inspirational travel and lifestyle publication for those looking to expand their horizons.

Continuing to stand as a trusted resource for discovering and booking the world’s most exceptional hotels, Kiwi Collection has set out to create a new industry standard with its updated web presence, brand – and now – a unique online publication.

Continuing the cinematic, image-heavy aesthetic of the Kiwi Collection website, WOW Travel is focused on travel, but not limited to the theme. Editor in Chief, Jim Tobler, and Editor at Large, Mary Gostelow, have assembled a team of in-house and international contributing writers to cover world culture in all its forms. This team includes distinguished restaurant designer Bob Puccini, and noted travel writer, Ted Botha, among others.

Jim Tobler says, “The re-invented WOW Travel leads readers on an exciting journey around the entire world, and is bursting with ideas and helpful information that make travel on any budget possible.”

Sections include Wining & Dining, Art & Style, Spa & Sport, News & Events, and Industry Insight. Inveterate traveler, Mary Gostelow, helms the latter section, digging deep into the international hotel world as only a select few can.

Editor at Large Mary Gostelow explains, “WOW Travel is the international, ahead-of-the-minute digital magazine for discerning travelers.”

In yet another feature, WOW Likes, the editorial team takes readers on a tour through an ever-growing, curated selection of their favorite products. From coach-built supercars and bespoke shoes, to hard-to-find furniture and must-have gadgets, WOW Likes lives on the front lines of style.

July’s WOW Travel articles include coverage of Youth Day in South Africa, and Alain Ducasse’s new restaurant at the St. Regis New York. In August, expect features focused on the definition of the modern Gastropub, authentic old-world style gelato, secret islands, and one of the world’s finest wine programs, at Blantyre.

Readers can sign-up to receive WOW Travel’s newest edition – out the first of each month.
http://www.kiwicollection.com/wow-travel.

ABOUT KIWI COLLECTION INC.

Kiwi Collection, headquartered in Vancouver, with offices in Sydney and London, is an independent curator of hotels founded by people with a passion for travel. Every hotel, including those belonging to all the well-known international brands, are personally reviewed before being invited to join. Hotels cannot pay to be included in the Collection, and are excluded if they no longer meet Kiwi Collection’s strict criteria. The collection currently features 2100 hotels in 127 countries.

Kiwi Collection was incorporated in 2003 to provide mass affluent travelers and travel agents with an up-to-date, unbiased, and trusted resource of the finest hotels around the globe. The portfolio reaches its target audience through strategic partnerships and online via http://www.kiwicollection.com, which includes Wow Travel, Kiwi Collection’s Digital Travel & Lifestyle Magazine. Kiwi Collection’s large format coffee table book series Overnight Sensations: Hotels for the Discerning Traveler is edited by co-founder and president, Philippe Kjellgren, and is published and distributed globally by San Francisco’s Chronicle Books. http://www.kiwicollection.com

South Africa welcomed the world when the FIFA World Cup kicked off 11 June 2010. Data fromSTR Global, the leading provider of market information to the global hotel industry, shows that prior to the start of the tournament and in-line with many other parts of the world, the country’s revenue per available room (RevPAR) has begun to trend upward during 2010. Nationwide RevPAR registered a small increase of 1.3 percent between April 2010 and April 2009.

Furthermore, whilst the supply of available rooms has been increasing steadily compared with the previous year as hoteliers gear up to host fans from all over the world, the change in demand, measured as occupied rooms, has also begun to trend upwards in 2010 as seen in the graph below. The peaks for RevPAR and demand during June 2009 coincided with the hosting of the Confederation Cup, the prelude to this year’s competition.

The additional new supply in host cities has negatively affected year-to-date RevPAR results, as seen in the graph below. All markets reported year-on-year occupancy declines, which drove the RevPAR decreases. Despite falling occupancies Cape Town, Nelspruit and Pretoria have still managed to register modest increases in average daily rate (ADR).

As experienced by other host nations in the past, the long-term influence of the FIFA World Cup on the image and promotion of South Africa to the millions watching on TV should provide a positive boost for future hotel demand.

“The immediate impact of the thousands of visitors on the hospitality industry will be reported by STR Global”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global.“With a sample of hotels covering more than 40,000 rooms in South Africa, we are the ‘go to’ resource when it comes to understanding the performance of the South African hotel market”.

http://www.traveldailynews.com/

Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours has announced an exciting new  partnership with theFiesta Hotel Group to offer exclusive, luxury catamaran tours to guests at the at the hotel group’s two resorts in Montego Bay, Jamaica: the Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort and Spa and the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort and Spa.

“We are very excited to be teaming up with the Fiesta Hotel Group in Jamaica. This new excursion partnership brings together two companies who are committed to delivering unforgettable destination experiences and offering the best quality in every aspect of our guests’ dream Caribbean vacation,” says Dominique Peterkin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours. “Island Routes Specialists will be based at both resorts to offer our signature personal service for each booking and to see to every detail for groups and special charters.”

Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours announces an exciting new partnership with the Fiesta Hotel Group to offer exclusive, luxury catamaran tours to guests at the at the hotel group’s two resorts in Montego Bay, Jamaica.L to R: Rodcliff Robertson, Human Resources Director, Grand Palladium; Adam Stewart, CEO of Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours; Dimitris Kosvogiannis, General Manager, Complex Grand Palladium Jamaica Lady Hamilton Resorts and Spa; Dominique Peterkin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Island Routes; Miguel Arthurs, Director of Operations, Island Routes; Wayne Cummings, President, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.

L to R: Rodcliff Robertson, Human Resources Director, Grand Palladium; Adam Stewart, CEO of Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours; Dimitris Kosvogiannis, General Manager, Complex Grand Palladium Jamaica Lady Hamilton Resorts and Spa; Dominique Peterkin, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Island Routes; Miguel Arthurs, Director of Operations, Island Routes; Wayne Cummings, President, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.

“Island Routes’ uniquely Jamaican catamaran cruises are the perfect addition to the luxury services and amenities that we offer our resort guests, their exacting level of customer service won’t disappoint” says Dimitris Kosvogiannis, General Manager, Complex Grand Palladium Jamaica Lady Hamilton Resorts and Spa. “In conjunction with our destination management company Caribic Vacations, we’re looking forward to expanding our relationship with Island Routes and the choice of adventure tour options for our guests.”

Island Routes will open two retail desks on September 1, 2010, at the 1056-room Palladium Hotels & Resorts and The Katt, one of six state-of-the-art luxury catamarans in the Island Routes fleet, will be permanently based at the resorts. The 65’ luxury vessel can accommodate up to 110 passengers and, in addition to the Island Vibes Catamaran Cruise and Lover’s Rock Sunset Sail, Island Routes will offer group packages and bespoke sailings for special events including wedding receptions. A family excursion is also scheduled to debut in the Winter 2010-2011 season.

The Mexico Tourism Board, throughwww.magicofmexico.com, is offering fam trips to Cancunthroughout 2010.

The 2010 program will include deluxe lodging, transfers, most meals, excursions and property inspections. Agents will receive “air-aid” of $400 to help lower the trip cost. The Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau will hand fam trip participants a $400 check to help offset air travel expenses, regardless of an agent’s air travel actual cost.

To participate in an inspection trip, agents must be a 2008-10 graduate and have at least two bookings registered in the Loyalty Points Program.

The registration fee is $99 (airfare is not included). This fee includes processing of your fam enrollment, four-night accommodations at a Palace Resorts property (double occupancy), scheduled meals, transfers, site inspections and specialized tours.

For more information, click here and then click on the “FAM Trips” tab at the top of home page.

UK’s lastminute.com has partnered with think-tank Future Foundation to understand how the way we travel and spend our free time will be changing in the future.

Trekking the landscape of a brand new country, staying in a technological black hole where your phone will never ring, and pushing the limits of ‘extreme adventures’ further than ever before. These are just some of the ways in which the way we travel and spend our free time will evolve over the coming decades says a report from lastminute.com.

The leading online travel and leisure retailer has partnered with think-tank Future Foundation to understand how the way we travel and spend our free time will be changing in the future.

The Future of free time report has found that the UK is becoming a nation of ‘Novelty Seekers’ who look for more daring, more dangerous and more bizarre travel experiences, ‘Go-Nowhere Gamers’ who would rather socialise online and play games than explore the world, and with single travel bigger than ever before, ‘Social Soloists’ who travel alone will become the staple of package deals.

Countries such as Lebanon and Columbia which are not currently recommended for travel due to political instability are tipped to offer pioneering appeal in the future. A similar ‘opening up’ took place in the 90s as Eastern Bloc cities such as Prague and Tallinn emerged from behind the Iron Curtain to become hugely popular tourist destinations. Whole new countries to explore will emerge as borders are redrawn in peace-time following conflict.

In the future tour operators will offer the ultimate escape from the real world in a place where your phone never rings, and holidaymakers will go back to nature entirely: staying in simple huts heated with fire and eating simple, traditional foods. Such environments will truly allow travellers to cut themselves of for a week or more. These trips will be popular with families as parents can show their children a way of living which they will have only read about in books.

Thrill seekers will not be content with sky diving and bungee jumps. Improvements in technology will facilitate greater predictions of volcanic eruptions, allowing operators to charter helicopters that let tourists to experience the sights and smells of a live eruption as it happens. Companies have even begun offering ‘Kidnapping Experiences’ where people can pay to experience the ordeal of being abducted. While most people would not want to experience such shocks, the travel industry will increasingly cater to such niche and extreme tastes.

“Since launching in 1998 lastminute.com has been at the forefront of travel innovation” said Patrick Hoffstetter, vice president at lastminute.com. “The next five years are going to bring big changes in the way we all plan and enjoy our free time. If that means instant recommendations from locals when planning a trip, or a guarantee that their phone will not ring on holiday, we’ll do our best to provide that.”

When compiling the Future of free time report, lastminute.com consulted with a range of experts from bodies such as Visit Britain, Which? Travel, travelmole.com, and author of Tomorrow’s Tourist, Ian Yeoman (Wellington University). The report also rigorously surveyed consumers gathering both quantative and qualitative data and utilised the Delphi method to gain insight into the theories and focus on only the most likely possibilities.

The lastminute.com Future of Free Time identified these other trends:

- Authentiseeking – As people turn their backs on the conspicuous consumption that defined the pre-credit crunch 80s and 90s, a new type of traveller is emerging that demands a luxury experience over simple material luxury – camping will thrive after the recession gave a taste of back to basics breaks.

- As we age as a nation, a new band of Ageless Aspirations travellers will emerge. This new group refuses to be defined by age and will continue to demand increasingly active and enriching activities, from medical travel to personal improvement, mental wellness to active holidays where older people set the pace.

- A new kind of demographic mixing will take hold in the form of GranTravel, a new generation of active grandparents who travel with their grandchildren – theme parks such as Disney World will be catering with deals to attract this new family unit.

- The increasingly Connected Recommendation Society where decisions are influenced by online communities, more instant-than-ever booking facilities, already beginning to gain prominence through the iPhone and similar products.

- Instant Booking – a new world where interactive, instantaneous and location based technology promises to fundamentally change the way we enjoy our free time – one in three hotel booking in Tokyo are already made on the day of arrival.

- Technology will continue to disrupt and improve lifestyle experiences too. iLeisure sees future leisure activities become more interactive – booking a ticket to an exhibition will come with audio and visual files explaining the background of the event you are about to attend.

Last November’s “free sale” through its Facebook fan page broke two daily records and saved the airline millions of ringgit in advertising spend. Regional head of commercial Kathleen Tan tells Yeoh Siew Hoon about AirAsia’s social media strategy.

Kathleen Tan, AirAsia’s regional head of commercial, herself did not know how massive social media would become when she started dipping her toes into the space last April.

“We started with one staff and it’s been like a tsunami,” she said. “Our aim last year was to build a fan base of 50,000 and now we have 215,000. I think we could hit 500,000 easily this year.”

Its team of one grew to five (three in Malaysia, one in Thailand and one in Indonesia) and soon it will add one each in Hong Kong and London. “You need full-time staff, it’s 24/7.”

Its Facebook fan page has now become a communication and marketing channel in which it posts information such as schedule changes, makes announcements, gathers customer feedback, launches new destinations through contests and other viral means and sells seats.

Basically, what it has created is its own media platform and community. It does not advertise however. “To us, Facebook is free, it’s how you utilize it. They key is to have relevant content and it shouldn’t be too hard sell,” said Tan.

An example: Last November, when it launched what it calls its annual “major schedule extension campaign” in which it typically spends up to RM2 million in full print advertisements in newspapers, it decided to use its Facebook fan page as a test case.

Over three to four days, it rolled out teasers everyday, with some saying, the best things in life are free and asked fans to log in on November 11 at midnight.

“When the sale opened, the system crashed,” said Tan, who said the airline broke Navitaire’s records on two days. On day one, it sold 404,000 seats and on day 2, it sold 489,000 seats.

There was another bonus. Usually, when it ran print campaigns for this sale, it would create havoc at its call centres, preventing staff from servicing other potential sales. “With this viral campaign, only people in the know knew about it. And we could tell people to be patient if the call centre was jammed or if the site was slow.

“The next day, our team also asked our fans to tell us who were the first people to get the seats and we had a lively exchange on the page.”

It still took out print ads in countries where its Facebook fan page’s penetration wasn’t as deep such as China, East Malaysia and Vietnam where it spent between RM200,000 and RM300,000 on offline media.

“That savings goes directly to the bottom line,” said Tan, “and I can also use the money to hire more people in digital media. The beauty of digital is with analytics, I can check where the sales are coming from, something you can’t do with offline media.”

Of its more than 200,000 fans on Facebook, 47% are from Malaysia, 25% from Indonesia, 7% from Thailand, 3% from Hong Kong and 1% from UK. There are slightly more females, 51%, than males and the 18-35 age group accounts for 45% of fans.

Social media also serves as a good customer feedback channel. “We have 250 staff in our call centres,” said Tan, “we can’t keep adding more. This gives us a channel to listen to customers and respond. You have to be careful though, otherwise it could end up as a complaint centre.”

Making social media work takes commitment from management and a desire to understand the channel. “You need a top down culture – all of us in management blog or tweet. Tony (Fernandes’) blog is one of the most-followed CEO blogs. We have 25,000 Twitter followers,” said Tan.

“When we started our interactive division, I called in the staff and asked them to educate me. I told them that if they wanted my support, they’d better teach me everything about it.

“It’s all about people – you have to hire the right people who understand that world and get them to do it. Sometimes my staff tell me the language I use is wrong, that it’s too formal.

“I am learning something everyday about social media. There’s a lot of talk about it and there are lots of experts who tell you they can help you but I believe you really have to get involved in it yourself.”

What social media has done is help AirAsia “build a community of “people who love AirAsia and people who love to travel”, said Tan.

http://www.webintravel.com/

“Clearly 2009 was a tough year,” Yannis Karmis,  president of Travelocity Business, said in an interview with Travel Agent. “Among other things it focused businesses attention on their travel expenses and how effectively travel was being managed to produce a return on invested assets. Cost pressures will remain in 2010, as will pricing volatility.”

Karmis, a 12-year Sabre Holdings veteran and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC), believes, “TBiz” has enough resources to build on with $850 million in managed programs, By rank, TBiz is the among the 10 largest travel agencies in the U.S. and a major part of the $11 billion corporate travel market.

Founded in 2003, Travelocity Business leverages the resources of  Sabre Holdings, Sabre’s online travel agency (OTA) Travelocity and GetThere. Travelocity. It serves companies across the spending spectrum, from small programs with less than $1 million in annual spending to large programs in theBusiness Travel News 100.

“Travel managers need solid information and data on which to base travel policies and decisions,” Karmis says. “This is also essential for negotiating deals and building relationships. Volume counts and deals now include more than airfares, including ancillary services, baggage costs or in-flight WiFi. Negotiations – hotels, cars or air -are detailed and must be data-based. CEOs and CIOs want results for their travel dollars.”

Another unique advantage Karmis has is that, as a travel management company, TBiz is among the few full-service corporate travel agencies that built and owns all of its end-to-end ticketing and fulfillment technologies. This allows for improved efficiencies and savings that are passed back to corporate clients.

Karmis also says that Travelocity Business has a track record of working with many corporations in various industries, including the American Medical Association, CACI, Computer Associates, Extreme Networks, Lockheed Martin, McKesson, Qualcomm and WellPoint.

Travelocity Business also has the ability to negotiate and realize significant travel savings for client companies by leveraging the buying power of millions of Travelocity members. TBiz customers average 90 percent online adoption in North America, and save 63 percent on their transaction fees, TBiz reports.

A recent win for Travelocity Business is its new agreement with Certify, an expense management firm. Certify will provide TBiz clients with expense report services to corporate and SaaS solutions. This allows capturing receipts via smart phone, camera phones, SMS message, e-mails, scan and fax and image uploads. Travelers can capture expense data through nine separate methods including iPhone, Blackberry and other mobile devices. It also supports 130 currencies for conversion as well as VAT taxes payments. According to Karmis, “Mobile technology is changing the face of travel management and reporting.”

Karmis spent the last two years managing customer services for airline, hotels and agency-focused Sabre Holdings units in Montevideo, Uruguay.  The Montevideo facility supports various Sabre units including Sabre Travel Network’s 55,000 agency locations.

Karmis sees that the real challenge for travel management companies is their ability to deliver client services and nurturing genuine talent. This includes such skills as multi-language fluency, technical competence and a global perspective.

Karmis notes that TBiz’ goals are not only realizing cost savings. but improving the productivity of individual travelers – individually and as a group. The problems of compliance and policy remain, but are improving as new technology becomes available and adopted. The ability to customize programs and capture unaccounted for travel expenses are major pluses.

Effective travel management can deliver results, including realizing gains in training, incentives, networking and communication with clients. “Companies recognize that they can’t cost contain their way to growth,” Karmis says. “Today there is a procurement mindset – travel companies seek a balance between travel costs and travel benefits.”

Travelocity Business faces stiff competition – including major players such as American Express,Carlson Wagonlit Travel and BCD, as examples. Yet TBiz has strengths including its ongoing alliance with the global RADIUS network. RADIUS manages $19 billion worth of annual travel spending through a tightly integrated global network of 90 independent, market-leading agencies in 80 countries.

What of the year ahead? Like any travel management company, Travelocity Business faced real challenges in a down economy as the industry struggles to halt declines and restore growth. Yet despite this TBiz sees opportunity. Its new deal with Certify may hold clues to TBiz future – increasingly global and applying new technologies that benefit clients.

“Sabre Holdings and Travelocity have a greatly diversified travel portfolio with enormous resources – people, management and technology included – and a balance between leisure and corporate travel. We are a truly global company. All of this will help us and our clients in the year ahead,” Karmis said.

Visit www.SabreHoldings.com.

http://www.travelagentcentral.com/

President Barack Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act (TPA) into law today, ending a multi-year legislative journey that now embarks upon the legislation’s implementation phase.

“Thank you, Mr. President, for your signature today—the American lodging industry will take the opportunities given through this legislation and make the most of it,” remarked American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) President and CEO Joseph McInerney.  “There have been many industries and companies involved with the long legislative campaign to get this bill to the president’s desk, from our association, the U.S. Travel Association, Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, all the leading top hotel brands, and the hundreds of AH&LA members who took the time to contact their members of Congress to let them know how important this bill was to their livelihood.”

AH&LA has long promoted legislation that would re-establish America’s overseas tourist promotion program.  When the Travel Promotion Act was first introduced in the 109th Congress, AH&LA took the lead to educate the U.S. lodging industry as to the many benefits the legislation would deliver to hoteliers in increased jobs, sales, and visitors.  AH&LA lobbying efforts included numerous grassroots advisories, visits to key Congressional lawmakers, and even at the request of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) a appearance by AH&LA President Joseph McInerney to a 2009 U.S. Senate hearing to explain the legislation’s many benefits to the industry.

President Obama signed the bipartisan bill in a White House ceremony this morning.  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and several members of Congress witnessed the president’s signature.

President Obama was a co-sponsor of the legislation in the 110th Congress and supports the efforts of the travel industry to create new jobs to support his Administration’s stated mission of economic recovery this year.  His recent remarks in Las Vegas about TPA also signaled his support of the bill and what it will achieve to boost international tourism and improve the image of the United States abroad.

The Travel Promotion Act’s next steps include creating the Corporation for Travel Promotion, a public-private entity managed by the Commerce Department that will begin the job of promoting the United States to international visitors.  If all goes well, the first set of advertisements may be released in early 2011.

To find out more about the Travel Promotion Act and what benefits it will bring to the industry and nation’s economy, please visit www.ahla.com/government.

Photos of today’s signing can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com

the Neighbor Islands, hardest hit by the state’s prolonged tourism slump, are finally beginning to see signs of recovery.

Visitor arrivals and spending rose statewide in January for the second month in a row, led by gains on the Big Island, Maui and Kaua’i, the Hawai’i Tourism Authority reported yesterday. It was the first time since the downturn began nearly two years ago that visitor spending posted back-to-back monthly gains.

The state welcomed 532,737 visitors in January, up 2 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the report. Those arriving by air spent $983.3 million, 3.5 percent more than they did the previous January.

“We’re encouraged that visitor expenditures increased for the second straight month, the first increases since the departure of Aloha and ATA airlines in early 2008,” said Marsha Wienert, the state’s tourism liaison.

While the tourism downturn has stretched from one end of the island chain to the other, O’ahu has fared relatively better than the Neighbor Islands, where lodging is generally more expensive.

That dynamic was flipped in January, with the Neighbor Islands outperforming O’ahu.

The Big Island saw the largest increase in both arrivals and spending, which rose 4.8 percent and 15.3 percent respectively. That was a marked turnaround for the island, which experienced a 7.4 percent loss of visitors and a 11.6 percent decline in spending in 2009.

Attendance has been slowly improving at the World Botanical Gardens near Akaka Falls on the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast, said Phyllis Segawa, operations manager.

“Business is still slow, but this January was better than last January,” Segawa said.

The attraction, on a former sugar plantation, added a zip line, which has helped bring in a more diverse group of visitors, she said.

“We’re reaching out to entire family. Grandma can go on the garden tour while dad and the kids go to the zip line.”

Maui and Kaua’i also recorded modest increases in visitors and spending. The last time Maui had an increase in arrivals was September 2009, and visitor spending had not been up on the island since November 2007.

Both the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, and the University of Hawai’i Economic Research organization are forecasting slight increases in visitor arrivals in 2010 after three straight years of declines.

While data from DBEDT and UHERO indicate the tourism industry has only recently started to stabilize, private-sector economist Paul Brewbaker said he believes the industry actually began pulling out of its dive much earlier.

One of the things that has constrained the recovery is not the lack of demand from potential visitors, but a shortage of flights to the Islands he said.

That situation has finally began to correct itself, with airlines announcing that they plan to boost the number of passenger seats to Hawai’i by 5.6 percent this spring, Brewbaker said.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com.