I came across this article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin titled, Weak Dollar Helps Isle Visitor Industry, which talks about a weak U.S. dollar is bringing more foreigners to Hawaii because we are considered cheap.

Visitors from Canada and Europe, especially, were taking advantage of favorable exchange rates, members of Hawaii’s visitor industry say. For the first time since the 1980s, the number of Canadian visitor days surpassed Japanese visitor days in Hawaii.

Overall, February arrivals by air rose 5.6 percent to 592,889 visitors compared with the same month last year, and arrivals from Canada soared 31.5 percent. Overall expenditures totaled $1 billion, a 5.2 percent increase from the year before.

It is also interesting because, while I was out shopping for an area rug for my new place, I got to talking with the owner of the store who mentioned the number of foreign buyers in his store has increased.  In fact, the first four sales of the year for him were foreign buyers. Two from Canada, one from Europe and one from Japan.

On another note, a new listing I have has had one Canadian, and two Japanese buyers out of the first 10 showings. 

There is definitely an increase in foreign travelers in Hawaii.  Read also this article about Foreign real estate investment in the U.S.  as well as Canadian Tourist Numbers Surge