Hawai'i sees 30% drop in October visitors

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The number of visitors arriving in Hawai'i during October was down more than 30 percent compared with October of last year. And while preliminary figures for November appear to show a slight improvement, arrivals remain significantly off from a year ago.

While the decline had been expected following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the numbers released last week were some of the firmest yet that illustrate the depth of the downturn in the state's No. 1 industry.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said final figures show 387,163 arrivals, compared with 555,581 in October 2000. The figures show that the state's visitor count for the year is running 6.8 percent behind last year.

The figures also showed that domestic arrivals last month were down 19.4 percent, and international arrivals were down 50.3 percent, including a 54 percent drop in Japanese visitors and a 52 percent drop in Canadian visitors.

All islands except Moloka'i showed double-digit declines compared with October last year. Moloka'i also is the only island whose visitor count is running higher this year than last.

The only positive figure last month was a slightly longer average length of stay, increasing from 8 1/2 days to a little more than nine days.

So far in November, total arrival figures from the department show daily visitors to the Islands off anywhere from 17 percent to 33 percent on any given day.

Department director Seiji Naya said an improvement in visitor numbers is expected in December when about 9,000 or 10,000 Japanese and nearly 8,000 U.S. Mainland residents will come for the Honolulu Marathon.