Tourism up

But Asia-Pacific visitor
traffic was down again in April
—by 7.9 percent

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A resurgence of tourist travel from the mainland pushed visitor arrivals up 3.5 percent in April from April 1997.

But arrivals from the Asia-Pacific area continued to drop, falling 7.9 percent from a year before, and a serious marketing effort is needed to turn that around, the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau said today.

Other disturbing trends in April, according to the HVCB, were shorter stays by tourists and fewer first-time visitors, who typically spend more and visit more islands and attractions than repeaters, the HVCB said.

The trends add up to less spending in tourism, the biggest part of Hawaii's economy.

"The island most affected by these trends is Oahu," Tony Vericella, HVCB president and chief executive officer, said.

"We need to turn this tide, not just for Oahu but for the state as a whole. That will require more marketing dollars spent in developing markets, for example the U.S. mainland east of the Rockies and the five regional gateways in Japan, as well as developing markets in Western Europe, Eastern Canada and in Chinese-speaking countries of Asia."

Vericella praised the 1998 Legislature for boosting the hotel room tax and directing that a fixed percentage of it - worth about $55 million to $60 million a year, measured by current statistics - go directly into tourism marketing.

But he said the HVCB won't see any of that money until January, and that the state government needs to boost tourist spending in the interim.

With April adding 558,880 visitors compared with 539,910 in April 1997, the total visitor count for the first four months of 1998 was 2,258,760, down 0.4 percent from 2,268,610 in the year-earlier period, the HVCB said.

The monthly report showed that April arrivals from Japan were down 2.2 percent, and the Asia-Pacific markets other than Japan showed a huge 21.6 percent drop. Japan is the biggest source of Hawaii's eastbound tourists with more than 2 million a year.

Visitor days and the average daily tally of tourists in the islands from all markets rose 1.9 percent, but that increase was only possible because of the boost in westbound travel. The number of westbound tourists, from the mainland, Canada and Europe, was up 10.6 percent and westbound visitor days were up 6 percent.

First-time visitors in April dropped to 41.2 percent of the total market mix, compared with 44 percent in April 1997. Vericella said the percentage of first-timers has been down in 15 of the last 16 months. The average length of stay also slipped, with Asia-Pacific visitors staying an average of 5.38 days, down from 5.5 days in the year-earlier month, and westbound visitors staying 9.27 days, down from 9.67.