Posted on: Friday, June 27, 2003

Hawai'i visitor arrivals fall 7.4 percent in May

By Sean Hao and Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writers

An almost 40 percent drop in Japanese visitors to Hawai'i brought the total number of island visitors down 7.4 percent last month compared with May of 2002.

Overall, 469,905 visitors came to the Islands in May, down from 507,680 in the year-ago period.

The good news is that tourists stayed longer on average, bringing the total number of days that all visitors spent in Hawai'i up 0.1 percent.

The May numbers clearly showed the continued fallout from global events, including the war with Iraq and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, on Hawai'i's $10 billion tourism industry. However, these events cut both ways by making the Islands a potentially safer, yet exotic destination for some visitors, while leading others to stay home.

As has been the trend in recent months, domestic arrivals grew — 1.7 percent year-over-year — while total international arrivals plunged 28.6 percent, according to figures released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

May's decline in total arrivals was the biggest since April 2002, when the number of visitors dropped 14.7 percent.

The results did not come as a surprise given a consistent weakness in Japanese arrivals, a trend that accelerated in May. That's partly a result of sub-par business during Golden Week — a springtime series of national holidays in Japan.

Although the roots of lower Japanese visitor numbers can be traced to Japan's weak economy, the recent dip also is pegged to the war and SARS.

"That end of it continues to be down," said Stan Brown, vice president of Pacific Island operations for Marriott. "We do get some feeling that ... in July and August (there) should be at least a bit of a pickup from Japan, but certainly nowhere near healthy levels."

Tourism officials hope that a decision by Japan Airlines to add more daily flights to Honolulu this summer will help.

"The key will be to see if the demand is there to fill that lift," Brown said.

On O'ahu, where Waikiki helps draw the greatest number of tourists, visitor arrivals fell 16.1 percent compared with May 2002. Kaua'i and Lana'i also suffered losses of 3.9 percent and 27.9 percent respectively last month.

Meanwhile, all other islands experienced increases in visitors — Maui, for example, had a 4.2 percent increase in visitor arrivals and Moloka'i had a 19.5 percent jump.

Although the total number of visitors coming into the state fell, those who made the trip stayed longer, bringing the average length of stay up to 9.45 days — an 8.1 percent increase in duration from May 2002. Visitor days are considered a good gauge of the economic contribution of tourism in the state.

Through May, total visitor arrivals in the state were down 0.3 percent from a year ago — a period in which arrivals were hurt by fears of terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The first four months of 2002 were extremely poor," said Joseph Toy, president of industry consultant Hospitality Advisors. "So really, the first four months of 2003 were the best time to pick up ground on the prior year."

The lower visitor figures for May jibe with preliminary numbers showing hotel occupancy that month dipping to 64.7 percent versus 66 percent in May 2002, Toy said. At the same time, average daily room rates rose to $135.46 compared with $131.96 in the year-ago period, meaning that sales per room rose overall.

Firmer room rates mean that hoteliers are more confident about their ability to fill rooms without having to resort to deep discounts.

"We seem to have seen an end to the worst of the discounting," he said. "Hopefully, the indications are we'll have a better summer."

Contact Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.

• • •