ARRIVALS STILL DECLINING
Tourism down again in October, by 13.5%
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
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The number of visitors traveling to Hawai'i continued to decline in October, although at a slower pace than in recent months.
Visitor arrivals declined by 13.5 percent in October from the same month a year earlier, the smallest drop since May for Hawai'i's No. 1 industry, according to a report released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Average daily visitor spending fell to $189 per person from $191 last October.
DBEDT is forecasting a 10.1 percent decline in visitor arrivals this year, followed by a 1.9 percent drop in 2009. Arrivals aren't expected to turn positive until 2010, when an increase of 1.4 percent is projected.
State tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said "national and global economic conditions" continue to weigh on the local visitor industry, which has been hit by double-digit declines in arrivals since June.
"The results in October were pretty much what we expected," Wienert said.
However, the decline in visitor arrivals was the smallest since May, when they fell by 7.4 percent.
Among the top four visitor markets, arrivals from Canada rose 7.6 percent, rebounding from a 6 percent decline in September.
Arrivals from the U.S. west and east fell by 19.8 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively.
Although October 2008 arrivals from Japan fell 5.6 percent compared to last year, the decrease was less severe than the double-digit declines in each of the previous four months.
Wienert said the expectations are for continued weakness through the end of this calendar year.
November isn't shaping up to be as strong as the industry was hoping, she said.
Hotels still are taking reservations for the December holidays, which often are booked months ahead of time.
"There are rooms for Christmas and that's a little bit out of the ordinary," she said.
Wienert noted that the average length of stay by visitors rose to 9.06 days in October, compared with 8.91 days a year earlier.
She pointed to the renewed interest from Canada as a positive sign in the slumping visitor industry and to several other individual segments that appear to be rebounding.
"International visitors traveling to the Islands to attend a convention or corporate meeting increased 55 percent and 35.5 percent, respectively."
Other highlights:
More visitors from the eastern U.S. (11.5 percent of them) also stayed in time-share properties than did so last October (10 percent).
Despite a 13.3 percent drop in arrivals, total visitor expenditures on O'ahu declined only 5.1 percent to $448.7 million, because of higher daily spending (up 6.1 percent to $213 per person) by those who came last month.
Total visitor spending decreased by 21.6 percent to $200.1 million on Maui, by 18.5 percent to $104.8 million on Hawai'i Island and by 18 percent to $83.2 million on Kaua'i.
Visitor days for all cruise visitors fell 45.9 percent.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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