In the article: Boom In Tourists From South Korea, China Expected:

The combination of a booming economy and easing of travel restrictions from China and South Korea have tourism marketing officials predicting the number of travelers arriving in Hawai’i from those two Asian nations will double within two years.

The upbeat assessment was delivered yesterday at the Hawai’i Tourism Authority’s spring marketing update at the Hawai’i Convention Center. “Korea is exploding,” said Michael Merner, managing director of Hawai’i tourism marketing for South Korea, China and Taiwan.

Travel from that country has been hampered because visitors needed a visa, but South Korea is expected to be admitted to the U.S. State Department’s visa waiver program in early 2009. Merner said Canada’s tourist numbers skyrocketed when it included South Korea in its visa-waiver program in 1994, with an 81 percent increase in arrivals the first year.

He said South Korea is an especially promising market because of the large number of people there who like to travel. Last year, he said, 13 million South Korea residents traveled overseas out of the entire population of 48 million. That’s 28 percent of the total population. Merner said travel has been helped by a strong economy there and a reduction in the workweek from six to five days.

This is along the lines of what has been predicted by several local economist and what I have covered in earlier posts in the Asia Categoryof my blog, so plan your investments accordingly.  With a booming economy, rising wealth in those countries, relative close proximity to Hawaii compared to the mainland, and Hawaii (U.S.) being a stable investment location, I can’t see how we wouldn’t see a large impact on the housing market.  Any thoughts?