Visitor arrivals down 5%
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
Last month was mostly dim for Hawai'i's already struggling tourism industry, as more visitors from the West Coast failed to offset a double-digit decrease in international visitors.
Visitor arrivals statewide last month were down 5.1 percent compared with a year ago, and total visitor days were off by 4 percent.
While visitors from the U.S. West rose 6.1 percent — boosted by the American Youth Soccer Organization National Games, which brought in 6,000 visitors — international arrivals were off 19.9 percent, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
The data show a continued shift toward growth in Mainland visitors to the Islands and a decline in Japanese visitors.
Businesses across the state have been trying to adjust to the changes. Yesterday, Japan Airlines said it will cut one of its four daily flights from Tokyo to Honolulu from October through March, and local businesses from hotels to retailers have been thinking about how to cater to the wave of visitors from the West Coast — their best chance for a rebound in business.
"Our U.S. West market was very strong," said state economist Pearl Imada Iboshi, but "we are concerned about the weakness in the international market."
Year to date, visitor arrivals are down 7.8 percent — with a total of 3.7 million tourists coming to the Islands compared with 4 million the same period last year. So far this year, total visitor expenditures are down 6.1 percent to $5.02 billion, compared with $5.35 billion in the same period last year.
The number of Japanese visitors was down 22.1 percent in July, and their visitor days were down 16.7 percent. The number of Japanese here for weddings and honeymoons more than doubled from a year ago, but 34.2 percent fewer came for vacation, 99.3 percent fewer for incentive travel and 62.2 percent fewer for other business.
About 5.2 percent fewer visitors came from the U.S. East compared to the same month a year ago, but they stayed an average of 10.72 days, an increase of 3.5 percent.
The continued overall weakness in visitor arrivals is reflected in the available flights and airplane seats to Hawai'i. For the first seven months of the year, air capacity to the Islands is down 9.2 percent from the same time last year but nowhere near the 19.5 percent drop in international capacity.
Most of the Neighbor Islands had a better July than O'ahu did, with visitors to Maui and Moloka'i edging up less than 1 percent and visitors to Lana'i increasing 20.4 percent. Arrivals fell 8.8 percent on O'ahu and Kaua'i, and 6.8 percent on the Big Island.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470, or at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
