Tourism Development in Hawaii - 3.2

1. THE HISTORY OF TOURISM
IN WAIKIKI
STAGE 1: EARLY DEVELOPMENT 1850 –
1900
Characterised by:
•Few tourists
•No facilities
•No links to other centres
•No knowledge of what the area has to offer

2. At the time Waikiki was mainly wetlands on
which rice was grown

3. The 50 acres of swamp were also used to
grow Taro

5. The beach had a few private houses only for
the wealthy

6. The formality of the times meant few facilities were
needed so there was no tourist development

7. Stage 2: Pioneer Phase
1900 – 1950
Characterised by:
•Tourist numbers start to increase slowly
•A few initial attractions and facilities set up
•Initial transport links established
•Area still not well known so numbers are
small but is gaining a reputation as the place
to come.

8. In 1901 the first hotel the Moana opened.

9. It was patronised by a few wealthy tourists

10. The beach activities were becoming more
acceptable

11. Slowly the transport links improved

12. Locals of Honolulu started to come to the beach
after a Tram was established as the first public
transport link to the beach

13. Future growth however was hampered by the
mosquitos from the wetlands that were becoming a
nuisance. Locals lobbied to have the swamps
drained.

14. In 1922 the Ala Wei canal was built
to drain the wetlands

15. This then created Hawaii’s most valuable
piece of real estate. The Royal Hawaiian
Hotel followed in 1927

16. This was built in a Meditteranean Style in
Pink – so it was nicknamed the Pink Palace.
It formed the land component of the cruise
ship Mahalo

17. facilities started to be established to cater for the
new tourists

18. A radio programme started under the
Banyan Tree of the Moana – this publicised
Hawaii to mainland USA. It had the signiture
of ‘Hawaii Calls”

19. Only wealthy movie stars could afford to come.
This helped to market the resort to the rest of the
USA.

21. Hawaii was used as a backdrop for many
advertisements

22. Then in 1941 Pearl Harbour was bombed by
the Japanese during World War 2

23. The USA now entered the war and this brought
tourism to a sudden end. The hotels were instead
used as R&R centres for soldiers

24. The beaches were covered in barbed wire

25. It meant that more soldiers were exposed to the
beauties of Waikiki and many vowed to return at
the wars end.

26. By 1950 Waikiki had 1400 rooms. In those days
surfers could drive their cars up onto the beach

27. Stage 3: Mature Phase
1960 – 1990
Characterised by:
•Numbers start to increase rapidly
•New attractions and facilities are established
to cater for this increase- a building boom
•Better transport links are set up
•Area receives maximum publicity as its
reputation spreads

28. Over time the main Street of Kalakaua
Avenue became more developed

29. However it was the development of commercial air
flights that allowed the masses to afford to visit
and they did so in their thousands

30. This led to the development of new hotels
that sprang up everywhere in the 1960’s

31. Famous people still added to the interest of
the masses to come here

32. The hotels doubled in number. By 1968 Waikiki
had 13,000 rooms, by 1988 the number reached
30,000
1960’s
1980’s

33. From this in 1960

34. To the same spot in 1990

35. Stage 4: Saturation
1990 – Present
Characterised by:
•Tourist numbers start to decrease
•Problems associated with tourist numbers
emerge
•Starts to impact on the environment
negatively
•Need to upgrade to keep visitors coming
•Move to specialist marketing

36. After 1990 the numbers of tourists declined for the
first time and has been fluctuating ever since
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2004
2005
7,000,000
6,000,000
6,600,000
6,800,000
6,400,000
6,900,000
7,400,000

37. The last piece of land available was sold in 1990
for $45 million. Now there was no where to go but
upwards.

38. The place was so crowded that the government
had to put a ceiling cap on the number of hotel
rooms allowed – 39,000.

39. The Infrastructure could not cope with any more.
Traffic congestion meant that a one way road
system was developed

40. To keep the traffic down the public transport
system “The Bus” was subsidised

41. Breakwaters had to be built to keep the
sand on the beach

42. Artificial beaches were built by importing
sand from other islands such as Molokai

43. Restrictions were placed to protect the
natural environment especially the fauna

46. Instead in order to keep the tourists coming a
massive upgrading began. The main streets were
made more attractive

47. Hotels were all upgraded and remodelled

48. New attractions were added like the Ala
Moana shopping centre

49. Specialist marketing was initiated such as the
Convention market with the opening of a huge
convention centre in 1998.

50. Specialist facilities cater for the rich
Japanese market

51. It quickly became apparent that the future for
Waikiki lay in attracting the Japanese market.
Facilities were provided to make them ‘feel at
home’.

53. Waikiki now has 24,000 permanent
residents and 65,000 visitors on any day. It
boasts 450 restaurants, 350 bars and 12
shopping centres all in an area only 2 km
long and 1 km wide!

54. MAHALO !