Tourists lingering here

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

While state officials had expected visitor levels for the month would be higher than last September simply because of the sheer drop in year-ago arrivals following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the increase in visitor days was a positive sign.

That 462,139 visitors stayed a total of 4.4 million days for the month in Hawai'i was a "pleasant surprise," said Seiji Naya, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

Total visitor days, or the number of visitors multiplied by their average length of stay, was the second-highest for September, just behind the slightly more than 4.5 million visitor days recorded in September 1997.

Domestic visitor days, at about 3.4 million, was the highest ever, the state reported. "It's gone beyond making up for last year's low — 2000 was a record year," said department spokesman Mark Want.

Because of the low visitor levels of September 2001, international visitor arrivals showed their first year-over-year increase since the month of the attacks, rising 40.5 percent, to 164,218. But that monthly arrival number was still below pre-Sept.-11 levels.

Domestically, there was a continuation of the trend of strong arrivals from the Mainland. Domestic arrivals were up 22.5 percent, to 297,921.

Affecting the year-ago data for September was a cutoff of domestic flights for two days and no international flights for three days. Additionally, there were seven international flights to other destinations diverted to Hawai'i, which helped visitor numbers but shortened the average length of stay slightly.

A reluctance for vacationers to travel by air in the months following the attacks as well as trouble in Japan's economy were felt through the end of last year and into this year.

For the first nine months of the year, total arrivals and visitor days are still down 4.8 percent and 2 percent, respectively, with lower arrivals offsetting slightly longer stays.

Domestic visitor days for the nine-month period are up 2 percent. International visitor days for the same period are down 13.4 percent.

From January to September, fewer travelers came to Hawai'i for vacations (-6.5 percent), corporate meetings (-18.5 percent) and incentive travel (-24.6 percent). More people came for weddings and honeymoons (+16.8 percent), to visit friends and relatives (+2.5 percent), for government/military business (+25.5 percent) and to attend school (+40.3 percent).

In September alone, all the above categories showed double-digit percent increases. Also in September, cruise ships attracted 91 percent more visitors to the state, carrying 24,112 passengers.

By island, total arrivals were up between 18 percent and 118 percent in September. For the first nine months of the year, only Moloka'i and Lana'i experienced visitor increases, with respective gains of 30.6 percent and 27.1 percent.

All the other islands reported nine-month visitor arrival declines, with O'ahu down 7.2 percent, Kaua'i down 4.5 percent, Maui down 2.7 percent and the Big Island down 0.9 percent.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.