Hawaii tourism dipped in October for both arrivals and visitor spending although the declines were far smaller than earlier drops, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

The number of visitors traveling to the state decreased 1.7 percent from the same month last year to 505,676 visitors.
Tourism has been in a general slump over the past year-and-a-half but has shown signs of improvement in recent months, leading officials to predict a gradual recovery next year. That hope is tempered by the effects of the lingering global economic downturn and unpredictability of the H1N1 virus and its impact on travel.
Arrivals by air were relatively unchanged (down 0.3 percent) but arrivals by ship — a far smaller number — declined 39.7 percent from last October because of fewer cruise ships to the Islands during the month.
The result was a 3.3 percent decrease in total visitor days compared with last October. The average length of stay by all visitors was 8.95 days, compared with 9.10 days in October 2008.
Total spending by air visitors for October 2009 fell 5.2 percent or $43.4 million to $792.7 million, because of lower average daily spending by these visitors ($179 per person, down from $185 per person in October 2008).
Among the top four visitor markets, arrivals by air from the U.S. West increased for the sixth consecutive month, up 2.5 percent from October 2008.
Arrivals from Japan (2.6 percent) also increased, arrivals from Canada were stable (up 0.5 percent). But arrivals from the U.S. East (down 2.9 percent) were lower compared with October 2008.