Trouble in Paradise: the 2007–2009 Global Economic Recession and Hawai'i's Visitor Industry

Abstract

This is a case study of the impact of the global economic recession of 2007–2009 on Hawai'i's visitor industry. The industry responded to the downturn largely with advertising blitzes to its primary market on the US mainland. Notwithstanding these efforts, diminished lift capacity and visitor arrivals, combined with widespread discounting, resulted in a 26% decrease in real visitor spending in 2009 versus that in 2006. The industry recovered during 2010 and 2011, but major hotel foreclosures, State bond downgrades and lost accommodations jobs are enduring scars. The experience demonstrated anew Hawai'i's need to strengthen its visitor industry and diversify its economy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From 9/11 through Katrina to Covid-19: crisis recovery campaigns for American destinations

“…These responses have included measures related to crisis management (e.g. dealing with victims and damages, preventing another crisis, steps to recover the tourism industry; see Beirman, 2003;Beirman & Van Walbeek, 2011;Stafford et al, 2002) as well as image and communication management (minimizing negative coverage and running recovery campaigns; see Avraham, 2020;Beirman, 2003;Chacko & Marcell, 2013;Chan et al, 2020;Spencer, 2013;Walters & Mair, 2012). Beirman and Van Walbeek (2011) differentiated between 'normal' place marketing conditions, when marketers could use all available marketing tools (advertising, public relations, events and promotion), and place marketing during or after a crisis.…”

“…Using the 'multi-step model for altering place image' (Avraham & Ketter, 2016) and a qualitative content analysis of campaigns, websites and news reports, the study aims is to analyse strategies used by American destination marketers and decision makers to deal with various tourism crises since 2001. To date, a limited number of studies have dealt with the ways American destinations have coped with crises in the tourism context, and those have generally been analyses of specific case studies (Goodrich, 2002;Ritchie et al, 2014;Spencer, 2013;Stafford et al, 2002). These studies were important, but a multi-case study comparing the coping strategies of a wide selection of American destinations over two decades would allow us to reach more conclusive insights and better understand the reasons behind their quick recoveries from the crises.…”

Diversifying visitor demand and its impact on Las Vegas's tourism industry during recovery from the Great Recession

“…Susilovic and Marija () showed that the tourism demand that faced economic recession was replaced by non‐tourism needs in Croatia, resulting in lower numbers of overnight stays, as well as lower numbers of visitors and tourist expenditure. Spencer () studied the impact of the global economic recession of 2007–2009 on Hawaii's visitor industry. The recession decreased the carrying capacity and visitor arrivals.…”

“…While the decline in visitor volume is directly measurable within a tourism destination, it is not easy to measure economic shocks of the destination caused by economic downturns in major origin places, considering the changes in spending propensity, disposable income, industrial structure, and unemployment rate. The poor economic performance of major origin places may significantly and negatively influence the demand for the tourism industry in tourism destinations (Arana & Leon, ; Boukas & Ziakas, ; Jones, ; Smeral, ; Ritchie, Molinar, & Frechtling, ; Spencer, ; Susilovic & Marija, ). Still, these studies largely ignored the potential ripple effects from a tourism destination back to its neighbouring regions that are caused by the final demand change in the tourism industry of the destination.…”

Surviving the recession with efficiency improvements: The case of hospitality firms in Portugal

“…A significant body of work has conceptually (Jones et al, ; Lesure, ; Smith, , ; Woodworth, ) or qualitatively (Withiam, ) focused on a hospitality establishment's response to a recession. Others, based on empirical work, have focused on the role of marketing (del Mar Alonso‐Almeida & Bremser, ; Singh & Dev, ) and branding (O'Neill & Carlbäck, ) or advertising (Spencer, ) expenditures on performance, whereas others have assessed the role of debt structure (Gu, ; Lee, ; Youn & Gu, ) in improving performance during a recession. Broader literature on firm response to a recession (Brown, Bessant, & Lamming, ; Gulati, ; Gulati, Nohria, & Wohlgezogen, ; Latham & Braun, ; MacCarthy, Lewis, Voss, & Narasimhan, ) finds that firms focus on cost cutting and efficiency to lower risk or focus on increasing returns through new strategic investments (Cohen & Kunreuther, ; Melnyk, Stewart, & Swink, ; Seshadri & Subrahmanyam, ; Van Mieghem, ).…”