Wednesday, March 14 2007
HAWAII - With the decline of smoker-friendly establishments, Hawaii is also seeing a decline in its number of tourists. Japanese tourists are Hawaii's most abundant, and John Lindelow, owner of Travel Hawaii expresses his concern about "the correlation between the ban and this slump" in the industry with "Sales to Japanese travelers, in particular" being down considerably compared to last year." Japan is like the U.S. when it comes to its smoking habits, and some people are suspecting that smokers are now being guided to more smoker-friendly destinations where they don't have to worry about such intense restrictions. Many hotels in Hawaii are now non-smoking and some charge an additional cleaning fee if they suspect a customer of smoking in the room. Read more from Hawaii
