Isle visitor
count off again

An increase in traffic from
the mainland in May couldn't offset
the decline in Asian travel

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A strong surge in tourists from the mainland was not enough to put Hawaii's visitor count in the black for May, as Asia's economic woes continued to hit the state's No.1 industry.

Hawaii's total visitor count for May was down 0.9 percent compared with May 1997, bringing the year-to-date total down half a percentage point to 2.78 million from 2.8 million in the first five months of 1997, according to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau monthly report.

"The continued decline in eastbound arrivals is a reflection of the economic malaise throughout Asia," said Tony Vericella, the HVCB's president and chief executive officer.

"With the continued weakness of the Japanese yen, those who do come are spending less, which results in a double blow for Hawaii businesses," he said

The number of Japanese tour-ists visiting Hawaii dropped 6.3 percent in May, compared with the previous May. And arrivals from other Asia-Pacific points plummeted 24 percent for an overall decline of 11.7 percent in eastbound tourism, according to the HVCB report.

The drop in Asia-Pacific tourism more than wiped out a 12.5 percent gain in tourists from the mainland in May. After adding arrivals from Europe and other non-Asia points, total westbound arrivals rose 7 percent for May.

Oahu was hit particularly hard by the drop in Japanese tourists.

The island showed a 5.3 percent decline in tour-ist arrivals while all the other islands except Molokai and Lanai show-ed increases.

However, the economic bottom line for Hawaii appears to have improved in May compared with a year earlier. Using 1997 tourist expenditure estimates, the latest available, the May visitor count translates into about $440 million in spending by travelers from the mainland, an increase of nearly $100 million from May 1997.

That would more than make up for a dip of about $16 million in Japanese spending in the islands, which totaled about $230 million in May.

Vericella noted that the strength of the U.S. economy and successful integrated marketing by the HVCB and its travel industry partners have combined to keep mainlanders coming. And he said, Hawaii isn't doing so poorly with the Japanese market as some other destinations, attracting 13.1 percent of all the Japanese that traveled overseas in May, from 12.2 percent in May 1997.

"The Asian decline is taking an even greater toll on some of our major competitors such as Hong Kong, Australia and parts of Europe," he said.

The Hawaii travel industry is marketing aggressively in Japan, promoting family travel for the rest of the summer, Vericella said. The HVCB and its tourist industry partners are also planning a major promotional push to take place in Japan in September, he said.

Vericella said the industry is concerned about an erosion of first-time visitors from the mainland.

The industry considers first-timers important because they go to more attractions and spend more money than those who have been to the islands before.

In May, westbound first-time visitors decreased to 39.4 percent of westbound arrivals, from 39.7 percent in May 1997.

"This hurts Oahu, which hosts most of our new visitors, and hurts the state in terms of future repeat trips to explore other islands," Vericella said. The industry is working on that by broadening its marketing to areas beyond the traditional West Coast markets, he said.