page_title: Tourism in Hawaii
section_title: Marine service
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Hawaii / History of travel to Hawaii / 20th century / Marine service
caption_attribution_description: English: In this postcard sent in October, 1934, a Matson line steamer ship departs from Honolulu, Hawaii. The message on the back reads: "This is the way a boat leaves nearly every Saturday. We take our mail down so that it is sure to get started on its way. There is always a crowd down to see it go. The people on the boat throw confetti and the band plays so it is quite an occasion…" The card was sent by a woman who went to the Territory of Hawaii to take up teaching.
context_page_description: Hawaii is a U.S. state that is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Of the eight major islands, Hawaii, Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi have major tourism industries, while it is limited on Molokai and Lānaʻi and access to Niihau and Kahoʻolawe is restricted.
  In 2017 alone, according to state government data, there were over 9.4 million visitors to the Hawaiian Islands with expenditures of over $16 billion. Tourism makes up 21% of the state's economy, with many of Hawaii's largest industries revolving around the constant flow of tourists.
  Due to the mild year-round weather, tourist travel is popular throughout the year. The summer months and major holidays are the most popular times for outsiders to visit, however, especially when residents of the rest of the United States are looking to escape from cold winter weather. The Japanese, with their economic and historical ties to Hawaii and the US as well as relative geographical proximity, make up the largest group of inbound international travelers to the islands, reaching 1,568,609 in 2017. The average Japanese stays only 5 days while other Asians stay over 9.5 days and spend 25% more.
context_section_description: The second SS Lurline, completed in 1908, was the first steamship built for Matson; she was designed to accommodate passengers (51) in addition to cargo. Matson added Wilhelmina, which made her maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu in February 1910. Both of these ships were named after the daughters of prominent executives: Lurline Matson, daughter of founder William Matson; and Wilhelmina Tenney, daughter of Edward Davies Tenney, the chairman of Castle & Cooke, the Honolulu agent for Matson.
  By 1913, Matson was building more passenger liners for the Honolulu run, Manoa and Matsonia. Direct service from Hawaii to Los Angeles was established by Manoa in October 1914. Another Matson steamship, Maui, sister to Matsonia, was launched in 1916 at San Francisco, the largest passenger ship then constructed on the West Coast. However, Matson's Hawaiian routes were interrupted by World War I, as the government announced plans to requisition five ships in 1917; that was later reduced to three: Wilhelmina, Matsonia, and Maui, which served as troop transports before they were released in 1919. Maui made 13 roundtrips to France, carrying 37,344 troops; Matsonia, 14 roundtrips (38,974); and Wilhelmina, 13 roundtrips (23,014).
  Growth in tourist travel followed World War I. Matson opened its eponymous headquarters on Market Street in 1924, and conducted marine operations via berths and warehouses at Piers 30–32 in San Francisco; Castle & Cooke also moved into new offices in Honolulu at approximately the same time, and Matson ships docked at Aloha Pier, surrounding Aloha Tower. Matson acquired the Oceanic Steamship operation in May 1926, extending its reach past Hawaii to Australia and New Zealand, and introduced the SS Malolo, the first of its four "White Fleet" ocean liners for Hawaii service, in 1927; at the time, she was the largest passenger steamship built in the United States. Malolo was one part of a three-pronged effort devised by William P. Roth, the son-in-law of Captain Matson and Matson's general manager, and E.D. Tenney, named president of Matson after Matson's death in 1917, to develop the modern Hawaiian tourist industry; a luxury hotel (completed in 1927 as the Royal Hawaiian, in partnership with the Territorial Hotel Company) and golf course (Waialae Country Club) would also help transform Hawaii into a premier resort destination. However, Malolo had an inauspicious start to her career, colliding with the steamship Jacob Christensen in heavy fog during sea trials in May 1927; despite the delay to inaugurating modern ocean liner service, annual tourist traffic to Hawaii jumped from 17,500 (1927) to 22,000 (1929) until the Great Depression started, cutting annual traffic to less than 11,000 tourists in 1932 and 1933.
  Matson would go on to build three sister ships to Malolo, all completed in 1932: Mariposa, Monterey, and a third Lurline. After Lurline completed her complicated 30,000-mile (48,000 km) maiden voyage from New York around the Pacific Ocean in early 1933 Matson established regular Honolulu service with the four ships. Two-week voyages were operated by Malolo ("clockwise" on a Los Angeles—Hawaii—San Francisco route) and Lurline ("counter-clockwise"  on a San Francisco—Hawaii—Los Angeles route); the subsidiary Matson-Oceanic lines operated Mariposa and Monterey on longer four-week cruises from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Australia and New Zealand via Hawaii. Matson purchased the assets of the Territorial Hotel Company in 1932, giving cruise passengers disembarking in Honolulu a choice from three hotels: the Moana, the Alexander Young, or the Royal Hawaiian. In 1934, a planned 88-day Pacific cruise aboard Malolo was canceled after heavy demand for passenger service to Hawaii tied up all of Matson's available ships; by 1941, tourist traffic had rebounded past pre-Depression levels, with 31,000 tourists visiting Hawaii that year.
  Lurline was steaming from Honolulu to San Francisco during the attack on Pearl Harbor; she proceeded at full speed and returned to San Francisco on December 10. The United States
caption: Steamer Day at Honolulu, marking the departure of a Matson liner (1930s)
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