Hawai'i hotel occupancy fell again in August, reflecting the statewide slump in the state's No. 1 economic engine.

It was the sixth consecutive decline in hotel occupancy and comes on the heels of a double-digit plunge in visitor arrivals reported last month, indications of continuing economic concerns both here and abroad.

Room demand declined across all islands during the month of August, with statewide occupancy dropping 6.6 percentage points to 74.4 percent for the month, according to a report from Hospitality Advisors LLC, an industry consulting firm.

"August unfortunately capped what has been a very dismal summer season for the Hawaii hotel industry," Hospitality Advisors President Joseph Toy said.

Toy said the next few months don't offer much hope for a turnaround. "The fall season also remains weak, with the medium-term outlook still very cloudy as the global economic turmoil continues to unfold," he said.

State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said the latest statistics track the recent decline in arrivals and demonstrate the need for beefed-up marketing, which has already begun.

"August is traditionally a good month," she said, while September, October, and November are seasonally slower months and are forecast to bring in even fewer visitors this year.

Wienert said more than $14.5 million worth of new marketing campaigns are planned that should help to fight that decline.

The state is putting forward $6.5 million with the other funds being matched by industry officials. Some of the marketing has been launched.

Wienert remains hopeful the campaigns will make a difference by January. Right now, the booking pace for the first quarter is down "a little more than 20 percent compared to where we normally are at this time of year," she said.

The first quarter of this year also had major challenges but a big marketing push helped turn that around with a rush of last-minute bookings, Wienert said. "Hopefully that same trend will occur."

The monthly occupancy rate is the lowest for any August since August 1998 when it was 74.3 percent. Revenue per available room — a key industry measure — also fell by 8.9 percent to $157.31 from the same month a year ago.

Drops in demand and revenue per available room were felt across all islands and levels of properties. The statewide average daily rate fell 0.9 percent to $211.34 for the month of August.

While all classes of properties showed declines, mid-price and economy properties suffered most with occupancy declines of 10.6 and 10.4 percent, respectively, to 68.0 and 67.6 percent occupancy for the month, Toy said.

The statistics reflect a 17.3 percent plunge in August visitor arrivals reported by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

ARRIVALS PLUNGE

The double-digit plummet and continuing decline is fueling more worries about the economy.

The worst visitor arrival news came from a traditionally strong source of visitors, the U.S. West, which posted its biggest decline on record, down 24.2 percent, according to the August report.

Maui hotel occupancy had the steepest decline of 12 percentage points to 69.0 percent for August while average daily rate was relatively flat at $285.79. Kaua'i fell by 10.9 percentage points to 74.5 percent, with average daily rate falling by 0.4 percent to $216.62.

Big Island occupancy dropped by 9.1 percentage points to 63.5 percent, but average daily rate rose by a slight 0.6 percent to $211.40.

O'ahu occupancy declined by a comparatively modest 2.3 percentage points to a state-high of 80.4 percent, but average daily rate fell by 0.4 percent to $178.93.

The decline in revenue per available room ranged from a drop of 3.2 percent on O'ahu to $143.32 to a 14.7 percent decline in Maui to $197.18.

Mid-price and economy hotels also led the decline in revenue per available room with 13.1 and 13.8 percent, respectively.

The survey by Smith Travel Research in conjunction with Hospitality Advisors included 160 properties representing 46,269 rooms.