U.S. West shows its aloha for Hawai'i

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Visitors from the West Coast accounted for 43 percent of all visitors last month, up from 39 percent in June 2001. Visits from Californians alone were up 12 percent.

"The fact that the U.S. West, our primary visitor market, has surpassed last year's performance to date is helping to shape a very encouraging picture of the visitor industry," said Seiji Naya, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

But there was plenty of continuing gloom to be found in the latest DBEDT report:

The number of Japanese visitors dropped 15.5 percent in June and the number of days they stayed fell 17.4 percent. Canadian arrivals were off by 19.2 percent and their visitor days were down 14.3 percent.

Visits from people in the eastern portion of the Mainland were off 3.3 percent and their visitor days dipped 0.4 percent.

And preliminary figures for May showed troubling signs that visitor spending had fallen 4.3 percent to $785.4 million, compared to the same period last year. DBEDT officials credited the drop to decreases in total arrivals and a 4.2 percent decline in per person per day spending, which fell to $177 per day.

Even U.S. West visitors couldn't help. Their spending was off 18.4 percent compared to May 2001. For the year, total visitor spending has fallen 5.6 percent.

U.S. West visitors came to Hawai'i in June to honeymoon (up 15.3 percent), for government and military purposes (a 58.4 percent increase) and for other business (a 27.4 percent boost). But the numbers declined 6.6 percent for the critical meetings, conventions and incentives market.

Overall, the number of visitors coming for meetings, conventions and incentive events is down 7.7 percent for the year.

For June, the number of people staying in hotels dropped 1.9 percent compared to June 2001, and the number who stayed in condominiums was down 0.2 percent.

But there were increases in the number of visitors who stayed with friends and relatives (9 percent), in timeshare properties (7.7 percent), on cruise ships (30.1 percent) and in bed and breakfasts (11.4 percent).

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.