Tourist drop of 9.1 percent drags down economy
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Chart: How hotels are faring
By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer
The number of visitors to Hawai'i dropped last year by 600,000 from 2000 as travelers stayed away in the grim security, political and economic climate after Sept. 11.
More than 6.3 million visitors came to Hawai'i in 2001, down 9.1 percent from the 6.9 million who came the previous year, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism reported yesterday.
The drop in visitors has been a massive drag on the economy, forcing Hawai'i into what most economists say is a moderate recession that could last through the first half of this year.
Thousands of workers have lost their jobs or seen their incomes cut; several companies have declared bankruptcy and ceased operations since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Forecasts call for a slight rebound in visitor levels this year and a return to record 2000 levels by the end of 2003.
Visitor expenditures are forecast to show a $900 million drop for 2001, and are also expected to rebound to earlier peak levels by 2003.
Other tourism highlights:
• Visitors stayed 57.5 million days in Hawai'i last year, down 6.3 percent from the 61.4 million visitor days in 2000. But visitors in 2001 stayed longer — an average of 9.1 days per person, compared to 8.8 days in 2000.
Visitors arriving on Mainland flights stayed 10.2 days on average last year, compared with 6.9 days for the average international visitor.
• Japanese visitor numbers shrank to 1.5 million, down 17 percent from 1.8 million the previous year.
• O'ahu bore the brunt of the decline, its visitor count dropping 9.5 percent to 4.3 million. Maui had 2.0 million visitors, down 9.1 percent. Kaua'i, with 1.0 million visitors, was down 6.5 percent, and the Big Island had 1.2 million visitors, or 6.7 percent fewer. Lana'i with 84,000 visitors was down 4.5 percent, while the Moloka'i visitor count grew 3 percent to 66,000.
• Corporate meeting and convention travel plummeted. Conventions drew 244,000 people, down 32.8 percent from 2000, and meetings drew 96,000, a 17.6 percent drop.
