March arrivals fall short of last year

By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer

Fewer travelers visited Hawai'i last month compared with a year ago, reflecting a weakening yen exchange rate and a slowing U.S. economy.

A total 614,261 visitors came to the Islands in March, down 1.9 percent from 626,313 arrivals the same month a year ago, according to the report released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

But the report pointed out that March was still a strong month — the third-highest on record — and year-to-date arrivals are still ahead of last year.

"It is encouraging that arrivals for the first quarter of 2001 remain on pace with last year's record-breaking performance," Seiji Naya, department director, said yesterday in a statement.

Last year was a record for the state in terms of visitor arrivals with 6.98 million people arriving in the Islands, driven by the strong U.S. economy and increased marketing by the state.

The department's chief economist, Pearl Imada-Iboshi, said a strong March last year accounted for some of the decline this year, but she also said the yen rate affected travel last month.

Japanese arrivals fell 5.9 percent and visitor days were off 3.7 percent when compared with the same month a year ago.

Iboshi said the Japanese yen exchange rate weakened, from 110 yen to a dollar a year ago to 120 yen today.

Total visitor days last month fell 1.5 percent, offsetting longer lengths of stay that rose to 8.82 days compared with 8.78 days a during the same month a year ago.

For the first three months of this year, arrivals totaled 1,723,659 visitors, slightly up from 1,722,991, in the same period in 2000. But a shorter average length of stay, 9.28 days compared with 9.39 a year ago, caused a 1.1 percent drop in total visitor days.

Fewer visitors in March were reflected in Neighbor Island counts where Kaua'i was off 3.2 percent, Maui was down .5 percent. But arrivals jumped on Moloka'i, which was up 21.6 percent and Lana'i where arrivals rose 7.7 percent. On the Big Island, arrivals improved 1.3 percent over the same month last year.

"For the first quarter, the Neighbor Islands, especially Maui, are doing slightly better than last year fueled by increased visitations from the international market," Naya said.

Maui arrivals were up 2.2 percent through March. Moloka'i increased arrivals 32 percent. Lana'i was up 17 percent while the Big Island improved only slightly, up .3 percent. On O'ahu, total arrivals were down .3 percent.