February visitor tally off 9.4 percent
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The NFL Pro Bowl helped boost February's tourism numbers from the western Mainland market but overall visitor arrivals remained off by more than 9.4 percent compared to the same month a year ago, the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism reported yesterday.
The critical Japanese market also saw arrivals drop 25.1 percent.
"Although not enough to offset the overall weakness, we are pleased to see that our domestic market is almost recovered from the impact of 9-11," said DBEDT Director Seiji Naya. "The arrival of nearly 25,000 visitors for the Pro Bowl emphasizes the importance of sporting events on our visitor industry."
There was plenty of encouraging news in yesterday's report.
The number of cruise ship passengers jumped 82 percent from February 2001. And preliminary figures for January showed the average per person, per day spending went from $172 to $184.
Japanese tourists, who historically spend more than other visitors, increased their spending 22.4 percent to $265 per day.
But their shorter length of stay — 5.98 days — gave the Japanese the lowest overall spending per trip, $1,586.
U.S. East visitors stayed the longest — 12.51 days — and spent the most per trip, $2,139. They were followed by Canadians who spent $2,104 per trip and tourists from the U.S. West, who averaged $1,930 per trip.
Overall, the U.S. tourism market saw 1.8 percent growth in February.
But Mainland tourism fell for many areas. Honeymooners were off by 7.3 percent and meetings, conventions and incentive trips were down 12.3 percent.
While U.S. West arrivals grew 3.6 percent, U.S. East arrivals dropped 5.3 percent. Canadian arrivals also fell 13.2 percent.
International arrivals plummeted 24.7 percent. International travelers coming for vacations dropped 25.4 percent. Meetings, conventions and incentive trips for international visitors were off 16.8 percent and honeymooners dipped slightly by 1.3 percent.
And while Japanese cruise ship customers skyrocketed by 477.8 percent, the number of Japanese tourists who stayed in hotels dropped 26.2 percent.
Meetings, conventions and incentive trips for Japanese also fell 30.5 percent. Japanese who came for vacation fell by 27.7 percent and honeymooners were down 5.3 percent.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
