Introduction to the city
Honolulu is a small city situated in Hawaii. Hawaii is a small most recent and 50th state to be included in the United States of America. It is the only state located out of North America and in Oceania. Honolulu, however, is the capital and largest city of Hawaii. It lies on the southeast coast of Island of Oahu. Oahu is the third largest island in Hawaii and is commonly known as ‘the gathering place.’ Honolulu is the major gateway to Hawaii and the main gateway into the United States. The city is the main hub military defense, international business such as tourism and is also very diverse in terms of food, culture, and people living there. The estimated population of Honolulu is 359,870 according to a census conducted in 2017.
History
The word Honolulu actually means a ‘calm port’ or ‘sheltered harbor’ and ‘Kou’ is the old name of the city. Honolulu has been the capital since 1845 of the Hawaiian Islands. It gained its historical importance following the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Up until 2015 Honolulu was ranked the 2nd safest city in America and was also ranked quite high in world livability rankings.
Climate
It is one of the major remote cities in the world. The city has a dry summer season with a hot semi-arid climate, all this due to an effect called rain shadow. Temperatures don’t vary a lot throughout the year; the high goes up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lowest temperature drops are 50 degrees or so Fahrenheit.
Tourism
Overall it’s a great city for tourism, in fact mostly used for tourism and all the business that comes in this city is because of tourism. Honolulu can be termed as an entrance for the island’s tourism industry. This tourism industry brings in millions of visitors and contributes almost $10 billion yearly in the local economy. The city is a great trading and business hub too because of its amazing location. The trade is mainly between the west and the east. Since the whole of Hawaii has no chains of the national bank, resident and visitors use different banks. Back in 2009, the average price of rent in Honolulu was increased by 4.5percent making it the second most expensive market in the whole US metropolitan areas.
Tourist and cultural spots
As the city is used for the tourism industry, it should be understood that it has a great cultural side to it too. It has national museums, performing art theaters, visual art theaters and what not. Some of the most amazing cultural sites include:
- The bishop museum; contains the world’s largest Pacific and Hawaiian culture artifacts and largest collection of natural history specimen of state.
- Honolulu Zoo and Waikiki aquarium, main zoological institution, and marine biology lab respectively.
- Honolulu Symphony; one of the oldest of US orchestra west of the Rocky Mountains.
- Hawaii opera theatre; it should be noted that Honolulu is a center for Hawaiian music.
- Diamond Head theatre; a venue for live theatre.
- Honolulu Museum of art; includes the largest collection of Asian and Western art in the whole of Hawaii.
- Museum of art Spalding; only contemporary art museum found in the state.
Other than these, the most famous tourist attractions are:
- International market place
- Waikiki beach
- Iolani Palace
- Lyron Arboretum
- Ala Moana Center
Due to the strategic position of the city in mid-Pacific, several countries have embassies there. All of the above-mentioned details about Honolulu, as in it being a small city, on the shore of Pacific, an island with really less population and so many cultural and tourist site can surely make a travel enthusiast to visit this beautiful city, Honolulu. The city and its people welcome the tourists with open arms throughout the year. To accommodate all of these tourists there are many storage units Honolulu and also two, three or four stars hotels. This article has provided all the important information if you plan on visiting Honolulu.