Posted on: Wednesday, May 30, 2001

Sub tour operator Voyager to shut down

By Glenn Scott
Advertiser Staff Writer

Voyager Submarines Hawaii, one of two companies offering underwater sightseeing in the Islands, will cease operations June 30 as a result of declining business from tourists.

In a brief letter sent late yesterday afternoon to tour operators, Voyager's operations director Danny Brennan referred to the lagging Japanese economy and U.S. economic slowdown and said the closure comes as a result of "a steady decline in visitor numbers and continued difficulties in major world markets."

Brennan and other executives were unavailable for comment yesterday. A Voyager employee reached at work said company managers told the approximately 40 ticket agents, maintenance workers and crew members Monday they will be laid off.

In the letter, Brennan thanked the company's clients and assured them that Voyager would continue to provide "the finest level of service" until the operation ceased. The company also operates cruises on catamarans that sail from Kewalo Basin.

The Voyager closure comes at a time when tourism industry leaders have been pointing to the double blow businesses are enduring from a dropoff in visits from Japan combined with a weaker yen. As of March, visits were off 6 percent from the same time last year. The yen has lost about 14 percent of its value against the dollar in the past 12 months.

Voyager, with its two distinctive yellow submarines, is owned by a partnership that includes Robert Iwamoto Jr., chief executive of Roberts Hawai'i.

Voyager joined with the Lopaka Reef Foundation in 1999 to create an artificial reef a mile offshore from Ala Moana Beach Park by sinking a ship in 120 feet of water. Voyager officials said at the time that they sank the ship to create an attraction, provide divers with a new site and to compete with Atlantis Adventures, whose sub toured its own underwater shipwreck.