Maryland tops Hawaii for millionaires By Star-Advertiser staff Article from: Star-Advertiser You’re slightly more likely to meet a millionaire in Maryland than Hawaii, according to Phoenix Marketing International, a global marketing services firm. The company issued its annual Global Wealth Monitor report that tracks affluent and high net worth households in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The reports shows that about 7.22 percent of Maryland’s households are millionaires, compared to Hawaii’s 7.21 percent. Hawaii had led the rankings since 2008. Phoenix defines a millionaire household as one with $1 million or more in investable or liquid assets (excluding sponsored retirement plans and real estate). Rounding out the top ten states in millionaires per population are New Jersey (7.19 percent), Connecticut (7.13 percent), Massachusetts (6.41 percent), Alaska (6.39 percent), Virginia (6.26 percent), New Hampshire (6.06 percent), California (6.01 percent), and the District of Columbia (5.88 percent). “A few things are noteworthy from this year’s millionaire rankings,” said David Thompson, Managing Director of the Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor said in a news release. “First, this is the closest it’s ever been between the top two states. Second, all of the top ten states increased their millionaire ratios during the past year, which underscores that the richest states keep getting richer.” Phoenix computes its data on the size of affluent and high net worth U.S. households on a mid-year to mid-year basis. As of the end of June, 2011, Phoenix estimates that the number of millionaires in the U.S. grew by 6.9 percent from the previous year, numbering some 5.9 million households. |
Showing posts with label global. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
According to the Global Wealth Monitor Report 7.21 Percent of Hawaii's Households Are Millionaires
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Breaking A Bag Habit Takes Time ~ Remember To B.Y.O.B.
Breaking a bag habit takes time
Shoppers on Maui and Kauai switch to paper or reusable sacks to carry their purchases
By Rosemarie Bernardo
Associated Press
Article From: Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Some supermarkets in Maui and Kauai counties are hoping more customers will get into the habit of bringing reusable bags, as stores and shoppers experienced the first week of the new ban on plastic shopping bags.
For now, many retailers are absorbing the higher cost of providing paper bags.
“Paper bags are more expensive. It’s three or four times more (than plastic),” said Rod Sueoka, manager of Sueoka Store on Kauai.
Beginning last Tuesday, no business in Maui County, including restaurants, may provide nonbiodegradable bags to customers at checkout. Businesses are required to provide recyclable paper or reusable bags for sale or at no charge.
In Kauai County, all commercial businesses, including restaurants and takeout food businesses, are required to replace plastic with recyclable or biodegradable bags. Businesses that fail to comply with the new law face fines of up to $1,000 a day.
Sueoka’s, a family-run business in Koloa, provides paper bags at no charge for customers who don’t have a reusable bag. So far, a lot of customers have not brought bring their own reusable bags. Sueoka said he hopes they will get into the habit of bringing them to lessen the cost for retailers.
Kilauea Town Market charges its customers 19 cents for each thick, paper bag — a couple cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer — since the ban took effect. A couple of customers have been bringing in some of their old plastic bags to carry out their groceries, said store manager Rosie Morimoto.
Her advice to customers: “You have old tank tops at home, sew the bottom together,” she said, recommending converting cotton tops to hold items.
Retailers have heard a number of customers say they miss the plastic bags because they would reuse them to line small trash containers in their bathrooms or to pick up after their dogs during walks.
On Maui, shoppers at Ah Fook’s Supermarket, a family-run market at the Kahului Shopping Center, receive a 5-cent credit when they use a reusable bag. Shoppers who do not have a reusable bag are charged a nickel for a paper bag. Though most customers are aware of the ban, they still forget to bring reusable bags, general manager Raymond Hew said.
Like Sueoka, Hew hopes more customers bring reusable bags to lessen the paper bag cost to retailers.
Gary Hanagami, executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, said, “If a consumer is going to need paper, it’s going to cost the retailer more. It will then be passed on to the consumer.”
Incentives like the 5-cent credit at Ah Fook’s and reusable bags sold at discounted prices are being offered by retailers to help change consumer habits.
“Our retailers understand there’s an environmental problem, especially on the neighbor islands because we don’t have HPOWER,” Hanagami said.
At the family-owned Pukalani Superette in Makawao, Maui, 95 percent of the customers are aware of the new law, but a majority “have not got into the habit of bringing (reusable bags),” said store owner Myles Nakashima, anticipating that it will take a few months for customers to adjust to the new law.
For Pukalani customers, shoppers who spend $20 worth of items can buy a reusable bag for 50 cents. If the total is under $20, reusable bags can be purchased for 99 cents, 26 cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer.
Nakashima suggested customers leave 10 reusable bags in their car, as customers have told him they left their bags at home after putting away groceries. “I got a dozen of them in my car,” he said.
Paper bags are provided at no charge to Pukalani customers who don’t have reusable bags. But the free paper bags will likely be temporary, as the store plans to eventually charge customers because of the higher cost for paper bags. “I don’t think we’ll be able to keep this up,” Nakashima said.
Shoppers on Maui and Kauai switch to paper or reusable sacks to carry their purchases
By Rosemarie Bernardo
Associated Press
Article From: Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Some supermarkets in Maui and Kauai counties are hoping more customers will get into the habit of bringing reusable bags, as stores and shoppers experienced the first week of the new ban on plastic shopping bags.
For now, many retailers are absorbing the higher cost of providing paper bags.
“Paper bags are more expensive. It’s three or four times more (than plastic),” said Rod Sueoka, manager of Sueoka Store on Kauai.
Beginning last Tuesday, no business in Maui County, including restaurants, may provide nonbiodegradable bags to customers at checkout. Businesses are required to provide recyclable paper or reusable bags for sale or at no charge.
In Kauai County, all commercial businesses, including restaurants and takeout food businesses, are required to replace plastic with recyclable or biodegradable bags. Businesses that fail to comply with the new law face fines of up to $1,000 a day.
Sueoka’s, a family-run business in Koloa, provides paper bags at no charge for customers who don’t have a reusable bag. So far, a lot of customers have not brought bring their own reusable bags. Sueoka said he hopes they will get into the habit of bringing them to lessen the cost for retailers.
Kilauea Town Market charges its customers 19 cents for each thick, paper bag — a couple cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer — since the ban took effect. A couple of customers have been bringing in some of their old plastic bags to carry out their groceries, said store manager Rosie Morimoto.
Her advice to customers: “You have old tank tops at home, sew the bottom together,” she said, recommending converting cotton tops to hold items.
Retailers have heard a number of customers say they miss the plastic bags because they would reuse them to line small trash containers in their bathrooms or to pick up after their dogs during walks.
On Maui, shoppers at Ah Fook’s Supermarket, a family-run market at the Kahului Shopping Center, receive a 5-cent credit when they use a reusable bag. Shoppers who do not have a reusable bag are charged a nickel for a paper bag. Though most customers are aware of the ban, they still forget to bring reusable bags, general manager Raymond Hew said.
Like Sueoka, Hew hopes more customers bring reusable bags to lessen the paper bag cost to retailers.
Gary Hanagami, executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, said, “If a consumer is going to need paper, it’s going to cost the retailer more. It will then be passed on to the consumer.”
Incentives like the 5-cent credit at Ah Fook’s and reusable bags sold at discounted prices are being offered by retailers to help change consumer habits.
“Our retailers understand there’s an environmental problem, especially on the neighbor islands because we don’t have HPOWER,” Hanagami said.
At the family-owned Pukalani Superette in Makawao, Maui, 95 percent of the customers are aware of the new law, but a majority “have not got into the habit of bringing (reusable bags),” said store owner Myles Nakashima, anticipating that it will take a few months for customers to adjust to the new law.
For Pukalani customers, shoppers who spend $20 worth of items can buy a reusable bag for 50 cents. If the total is under $20, reusable bags can be purchased for 99 cents, 26 cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer.
Nakashima suggested customers leave 10 reusable bags in their car, as customers have told him they left their bags at home after putting away groceries. “I got a dozen of them in my car,” he said.
Paper bags are provided at no charge to Pukalani customers who don’t have reusable bags. But the free paper bags will likely be temporary, as the store plans to eventually charge customers because of the higher cost for paper bags. “I don’t think we’ll be able to keep this up,” Nakashima said.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
New Hawaiian Air Flights to Korea Expected to Generate $86.4 Million in Annual Visitor Spending
Hawaiian starts flights to S. Korea
The nonstop service is expected to generate $86.4 million in annual visitor spending here
By Dave Segal
Article from: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaiian Airlines, expanding its reach into Asia for the second time in less than two months, launched its inaugural flight to South Korea yesterday as the fast-growing carrier marked another milestone in its 81-year history.
The new nonstop, four-times-a-week service will bring 54,000 seats a year into the Hawaii market and is expected to generate about $86.4 million in annual visitor spending, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. South Korea’s inclusion in November 2008 in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which allows Koreans to travel to the U.S. without a visa, opened the door for Hawaiian to expand in Asia beyond Manila (April 2008) and Tokyo (November).
“As we think about where the growth opportunities are for us in the coming years, we’re already the undisputed leader in interisland travel, we’re the leader in travel between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, and the natural spot for us, where we see a lot of growth in tourism coming to Hawaii, is from Asia,” Hawaiian Chief Financial Officer Peter Ingram said. “Today is a big step in terms of us becoming a leader in air travel between Hawaii and Asia.”
With Hawaiian music, hula, a blessing and a Korean cultural dance commemorating the occasion, just under 100 passengers comprising mostly business leaders and professionals boarded the afternoon flight for the 11-hour, 39-minute trip to Incheon International Airport, just outside Seoul. When they left Honolulu, the temperature was about 79 degrees under rainy conditions. The expected high today when they arrived in Seoul, which is 19 hours ahead of Hawaii, was 32 degrees with the temperature dropping to a low of 8 degrees.
About 240 passengers are expected on the seven-hour, 45-minute return leg on the 264-seat Boeing 767-300ER flight that is due to arrive in Honolulu at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
“Today’s launch of direct service to Incheon International Airport in Seoul is positive news for Hawaii’s visitor industry and another sign that our tourism economy is continuing to recover,” HTA President and Chief Executive Officer Mike McCartney said.
With Korean Air scheduled to increase its weekly flights between Seoul and Honolulu to 14 from 10 in February, that means the state will be on the receiving end of 18 flights a week from South Korea.
“This is another history-making day for Hawaiian as we expand even farther into Asia with our new flights to Seoul and introduce our unique brand of in-flight service that promotes the Hawaii and travel experience,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian president and CEO, in a statement. Dunkerley flew to Seoul ahead of Hawaiian’s inaugural flight for meetings and to greet the flight upon its arrival.
Through the first 11 months of 2010, 79,131 Koreans visited Hawaii, up 75.3 percent from 45,148 during the same period a year earlier, according to the HTA. For all of 2010, the HTA is projecting 92,180 visitors, a 79.5 percent increase over 51,353 in 2009.
The HTA is projecting 115,225 Koreans will visit Hawaii this year, up 25 percent from its 2010 projection, and forecasts visitor spending from Korea to increase 38.2 percent this year to $230.2 million from a projected $166.6 million in 2010.
Dennis Teranishi, CEO of Hawaiian Host Inc., said his company’s business will get a boost from the Hawaii-Seoul flight because Hawaiian will be serving Hawaiian Host chocolates with meals in both economy and first class. Hawaiian also serves Hawaiian Host chocolates on its flights to Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.
“We’re also on Korean Airlines, but those are in-flight sales where they’re selling our chocolates on the airplane as gifts,” he said.
Austin Kang, president of Coral Creek Golf Course in Ewa Beach, said he’s ready for an influx of Korean visitors and has a Korean brochure and website ready as well as Korean staff that can take phone calls.
“The numbers show how many people are coming from Korea, and they’re spending,” Kang said. “The only market booming right now is the Korean market and it’s increasing more than 50 percent a year. So we’re expecting many people to come to Hawaii and help our state.”
Ingram, the CFO, said Hawaiian likely will announce another flight to Asia, most likely to Japan, later this year. Hawaiian began flying to Haneda in November after winning one of four slots that were awarded to U.S. carriers.
“We do see some other options and some alternatives for growth in Japan,” he said. “We think there are some very viable alternatives and we would like to be announcing something in the next several months and hopefully be flying that route before the end of 2011. Obviously, flying to Tokyo is one alternative, but there are other places in Japan that would like our service.”
The nonstop service is expected to generate $86.4 million in annual visitor spending here
By Dave Segal
Article from: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaiian Airlines, expanding its reach into Asia for the second time in less than two months, launched its inaugural flight to South Korea yesterday as the fast-growing carrier marked another milestone in its 81-year history.
The new nonstop, four-times-a-week service will bring 54,000 seats a year into the Hawaii market and is expected to generate about $86.4 million in annual visitor spending, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. South Korea’s inclusion in November 2008 in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which allows Koreans to travel to the U.S. without a visa, opened the door for Hawaiian to expand in Asia beyond Manila (April 2008) and Tokyo (November).
“As we think about where the growth opportunities are for us in the coming years, we’re already the undisputed leader in interisland travel, we’re the leader in travel between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, and the natural spot for us, where we see a lot of growth in tourism coming to Hawaii, is from Asia,” Hawaiian Chief Financial Officer Peter Ingram said. “Today is a big step in terms of us becoming a leader in air travel between Hawaii and Asia.”
With Hawaiian music, hula, a blessing and a Korean cultural dance commemorating the occasion, just under 100 passengers comprising mostly business leaders and professionals boarded the afternoon flight for the 11-hour, 39-minute trip to Incheon International Airport, just outside Seoul. When they left Honolulu, the temperature was about 79 degrees under rainy conditions. The expected high today when they arrived in Seoul, which is 19 hours ahead of Hawaii, was 32 degrees with the temperature dropping to a low of 8 degrees.
About 240 passengers are expected on the seven-hour, 45-minute return leg on the 264-seat Boeing 767-300ER flight that is due to arrive in Honolulu at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
“Today’s launch of direct service to Incheon International Airport in Seoul is positive news for Hawaii’s visitor industry and another sign that our tourism economy is continuing to recover,” HTA President and Chief Executive Officer Mike McCartney said.
With Korean Air scheduled to increase its weekly flights between Seoul and Honolulu to 14 from 10 in February, that means the state will be on the receiving end of 18 flights a week from South Korea.
“This is another history-making day for Hawaiian as we expand even farther into Asia with our new flights to Seoul and introduce our unique brand of in-flight service that promotes the Hawaii and travel experience,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian president and CEO, in a statement. Dunkerley flew to Seoul ahead of Hawaiian’s inaugural flight for meetings and to greet the flight upon its arrival.
Through the first 11 months of 2010, 79,131 Koreans visited Hawaii, up 75.3 percent from 45,148 during the same period a year earlier, according to the HTA. For all of 2010, the HTA is projecting 92,180 visitors, a 79.5 percent increase over 51,353 in 2009.
The HTA is projecting 115,225 Koreans will visit Hawaii this year, up 25 percent from its 2010 projection, and forecasts visitor spending from Korea to increase 38.2 percent this year to $230.2 million from a projected $166.6 million in 2010.
Dennis Teranishi, CEO of Hawaiian Host Inc., said his company’s business will get a boost from the Hawaii-Seoul flight because Hawaiian will be serving Hawaiian Host chocolates with meals in both economy and first class. Hawaiian also serves Hawaiian Host chocolates on its flights to Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.
“We’re also on Korean Airlines, but those are in-flight sales where they’re selling our chocolates on the airplane as gifts,” he said.
Austin Kang, president of Coral Creek Golf Course in Ewa Beach, said he’s ready for an influx of Korean visitors and has a Korean brochure and website ready as well as Korean staff that can take phone calls.
“The numbers show how many people are coming from Korea, and they’re spending,” Kang said. “The only market booming right now is the Korean market and it’s increasing more than 50 percent a year. So we’re expecting many people to come to Hawaii and help our state.”
Ingram, the CFO, said Hawaiian likely will announce another flight to Asia, most likely to Japan, later this year. Hawaiian began flying to Haneda in November after winning one of four slots that were awarded to U.S. carriers.
“We do see some other options and some alternatives for growth in Japan,” he said. “We think there are some very viable alternatives and we would like to be announcing something in the next several months and hopefully be flying that route before the end of 2011. Obviously, flying to Tokyo is one alternative, but there are other places in Japan that would like our service.”
Monday, June 21, 2010
Summer Business is Heating Up!
Happy First Day of Summer!
Every season brings change and summer tradionally means things will be heating up. They certainly are in Maui! Our economy appears to be taking a turn in the right direction with many indicators pointing to a lot of it being due to the International Buyers. Being that this truly is a global economy, we need to always be fully focused on the global activity all around us.
The Hansen Ohana is now practicing along with Maui Estates International. We have joined forces to better serve our valued clients and we are excited to be apart of the global market!
You can view all our current listings on our website, http://www.mauirealestate.net/
Enjoy your of Summer and dont forget the sunscreen!
A Hui Hou!
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