Six decades after its founding, This Week Hawaii, the state's original and longest-running visitor publication, is marking its 60th anniversary with the launch of an expanded hybrid media initiative that deepens its reach and introduces enhanced digital tracking tools for advertising partners. Founded in 1966, the publication has grown from a single magazine into the largest visitor publication distribution network in Hawaii, producing more than 1,300 pages of curated content annually across four island editions: Oahu, Maui, Big Island, and Kauai.
When the first issue was published in 1966, Hawaii's visitor industry was a fraction of its current scale. The publication addressed a specific need: a trusted, locally produced guide that could orient travelers and connect them with the culture, geography, and businesses of each island. That foundational purpose remains unchanged. In 2005, This Week Hawaii launched its digital platform, thisweekhawaii.com, extending its reach beyond print and into the devices travelers carry with them. Rather than replacing print, the digital expansion created an integrated model where both formats operate in parallel. Today, the platform combines traditional print advertising with digital placements, QR codes, and trackable engagement metrics, giving local businesses data-informed visibility alongside the tangible presence of a printed guide.
"Reaching this 60-year milestone is a reflection of the trust that travelers and local businesses have placed in us since 1966," said General Manager Ed Chung. "With more than 1,300 pages of editorial content distributed across four islands and a digital platform that launched 20 years ago, we have spent six decades earning the right to call ourselves Hawaii's visitor guide -- and we do not take that lightly."
One of the structural distinctions that has defined This Week Hawaii is its commitment to island-specific storytelling. Rather than producing a single statewide publication, the brand maintains four print editions, each supported by locally embedded editorial teams who live and work within the communities they cover. This structure ensures that a traveler picking up the Kauai edition receives content shaped by people who understand the Na Pali Coast differently than someone writing from Honolulu or the mainland. Each edition carries local nuance that a centralized newsroom could not authentically replicate, positioning This Week Hawaii as a cultural bridge rather than a conventional travel guide.
Print editions continue to be distributed through airports, hotels, resorts, and visitor centers across the state, reaching travelers at the moment they arrive. Alongside each print placement, QR codes connect readers directly to digital content, enabling businesses to track engagement and measure advertising performance in ways that traditional print alone never allowed. For the businesses that have partnered with This Week Hawaii across generations -- family-run restaurants, activity operators, cultural experiences -- this model offers continuity alongside evolution. Those who visit Hawaii today encounter a resource where the tactile familiarity of a printed guide now carries the accountability of digital analytics.
What distinguishes a 60-year publishing legacy is not simply longevity but the accumulation of trust. Travelers who visited Hawaii in the 1970s may have carried a copy of This Week Hawaii in their bags; their children and grandchildren now access the same institution through a smartphone. That continuity across generations, formats, and four distinct island communities is what the milestone represents. As This Week Hawaii enters its seventh decade, its editorial teams across Oahu, Maui, Big Island, and Kauai continue the work that began in 1966: helping visitors find their footing in one of the most distinct places on Earth and connecting them with the people and places that make each island worth returning to.
