Hawaii-themed Search and Click Through Rates.

I'm slowly building up a reservoir of Hawaii-related articles, and they do pretty well over at each of their respective sites (Suite101, TravelingMamas, and Uptake). Because it's a big deal for a lot of people to actually up and take a vacation in Hawaii, I'm thinking the relatively high PVs means one of two things: Either luxury travel is buffered somewhat from the worldwide economic downturn, or else there are a lot of aspirational searchers out there. Possibly a little of both.

This article about my picks for the best upscale resort hotels in Kauai just went live today, so I don't have any idea how it will do long-term. And this blog post about a hike in Waimea Canyon is more poesy than practical, so again, can't really judge (that was fun to write, though).

Talking about poesy, the post about a petroglyph field on the Big Island had an unintended result: It showed me that my mom - perpetually disappointed in my lack of PhD - sometimes drops in and reads my blog (she left a snarky comment! Yay). However, it's really the just-the facts-ma'am articles that get hundreds of page views a week, month after month. This almost 2 year old article on great snorkel and scuba spots in Hawaii just never quits. And an even older regarding my favorite luxury resorts in Maui? Same thing.

To be fair, newer articles about resort hotels and free activities on the Big Island show signs of consistent strength - but these, again, are factual travel articles rather than the experiential types of posts seen on most blogs. When I've tried for a 50/50 split, such as with this Big Island snorkel trip post, it has just never seemed to gain any traction. Maybe 10 or 11 hits a day after the first week (and flurry from Stumble Upon attention settles down), not too popular.

So what can travel bloggers, concerned about the economy's impact on our best efforts, derive from this small sample of one? Well, my guess is that 1) luxury travelers still jet off to their destinations of choice, and 2) average travelers are planning to stay closer to home, but daydream about fantastic and pampering vacations in the South Pacific. Hence, the page views. What will this mean long term? Things have to get better, economically. Hopefully, all those aspirational searchers will be prepared, armed with knowledge about how to best enjoy their dream vacation in Hawaii.