Six decades after its founding in 1966, 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 the brand's reach across all four island editions and introduces enhanced digital tracking tools for its advertising partners.
Founded in 1966, This Week Hawaii has grown from a single publication into the largest visitor publication distribution network in the state, producing more than 1,300 pages of curated content annually across Oahu, Maui, Big Island, and Kauai. The publication initially addressed a specific need: a trusted, locally produced visitor guide that could orient travelers and connect them with the culture, geography, and businesses of each island.
In 2005, This Week Hawaii launched its digital platform, thisweekhawaii.com, extending the brand's reach beyond the physical page 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 functions as part of the Hagadone Media Group and 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 of This Week Hawaii, 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 across its six decades is its commitment to island-specific storytelling. Rather than producing a single statewide publication, the brand maintains four print editions -- Oahu, Maui, Big Island, and Kauai -- each supported by locally embedded editorial teams who live and work within the communities they cover. This structure ensures that travelers receive content shaped by people who understand each island's unique character.
Print editions continue to be distributed through airports, hotels, resorts, and visitor centers across the state, reaching travelers at the moment they arrive and begin planning their days. 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 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 -- it is the accumulation of trust. Travelers who came to visit 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, across formats, and across four distinct island communities is what the milestone represents.
