Ain ' t love grand? To Hawaii tourism it is

When TripAdvisor.com polled its readers on the qualities of U.S. cities, they voted New York best, Detroit worst, Portland, Ore., most underrated, Las Vegas most overrated, and Honolulu most romantic. Barring the odd box jellyfish, Honolulu is very romantic indeed. All of Hawaii is, with the possible exception of Mapunapuna. And that is a key factor in what's going to rescue tourism this year. The wrap-up report on May tourism from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism - DBEDT to its friends - shows plenty of bad news: the worst Canadian slump in five years, expenditures plunging, Japanese visitors down 15%. But we still got almost 5,000 Japanese flying here for weddings. And about 10,000 people flew here from the West Coast for honeymoons. Yes, Hawaii is romantic. And as long as the Matson ship captains don't strike and the toilet paper supplies keep coming, romantic it will stay. [Postscript: I took my dad to see Iolani Palace because he read a book about Queen Liliuokalani and regards her as one of the greatest ladies known to him either in person or by reputation. There are some majestically beautiful women working at the palace. This, too, is part of Hawaii's romance.] [Second postscript: I'm taking Bernadette to the Big Island this weekend. So addressing the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce is also romantic.]