Analysts were divided over what impact Sunday's earthquake and subsequent power outage would have on Hawai'i's healthy economy.

Based on prior disasters, chief economist Paul Brewbaker at the Bank of Hawaii said a 5 percent to 10 percent dip in visitors to Hawaii over the next few months "would not be unreasonable" to expect.

"Clearly there will be some business disruption," Brewbaker said. "People thinking about their holiday or winter travel may be having second thoughts."

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau said yesterday the state's businesses, highways and airports are back to normal, aside from minor flight delays.

Brewbaker, who earlier this year estimated 4 percent growth in visitors to Hawai'i in 2006, said he will revise that figure to a 0.5 percent decline next week.

Brewbaker also predicted that damage from the quake could easily rise to hundreds of millions of dollars, especially on the Big Island's Kona Coast, where ritzy vacation homes sell for several million dollars each.

However, the effects of the earthquake and power outages were mitigated in part because they occurred on a weekend rather than a weekday, said Byron Gangnes, a University of Hawai'i associate professor of economics.

As a result, the outage mostly affected retailers and Waikiki's tourism business rather than the broader economy. "The effect on O'ahu was marginal mainly because it was a Sunday," Gangnes said.

There was no projection of the economic cost of Sunday's events available yesterday. The last O'ahu-wide power outage in 1991 carried an estimated $75 million price tag. That blackout occurred on a Tuesday and resulted in several failed lawsuits seeking damages from Hawaiian Electric Co.

As for Sunday's earthquakes, the lingering economic concerns were restoring power across the state and opening Kona's Kawaihae Harbor, which was closed because of structural concerns.

"In terms of any economic impact, those are the two big concerns," Gangnes said.

He said the earthquakes, which garnered nationwide publicity, probably won't tarnish Hawai'i's image or the state's $12 billion tourism trade.

"I think there's a possibility it has a perverse positive impact," Gangnes said. "People are reminded that we're here. I don't think people are driven away, especially since there was no loss of life or serious injury."

Pearl Imada Iboshi, the state's chief economist, agreed the impact of Sunday's events should have minimal impact on Hawai'i's economy.

"The impact was relatively concentrated and the damage wasn't very large," she said. "Things should come back to normal pretty quickly."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.