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Arrivals to top 1999
despite latest drop

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By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

The statewide visitor count dipped slightly in November but visitor arrivals for the year are likely to surpass 1999's total, indicating continued growth for Hawaii's economy.

Figures released yesterday by the state Department of Business Economic Development & Tourism show that visitor arrivals totaled 534,069 last month, down 1.4 percent from November 1999's 541,609. Year-to-date, the statewide visitor count is up about 3.1 percent to nearly 6.4 million from 6.2 million for the first 11 months of 1999.

Ken Phillips, director of corporate communications for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, said travel for this December through February will compare favorably with the same period last year, which was hurt by Y2K worries. "The year started out very slow but has since turned up significantly," said Phillips, whose California-based company brings about half a million tourists a year to Hawaii. "We don't see any signs of recession on the horizon as far as travel is concerned."

Arrivals from the U.S. mainland accounted for 337,212 of the state's visitors in November, a 0.4 percent increase from the year-earlier period's 335,753. That was negated by a 4.4 percent drop in international travel to Hawaii. That segment was down to 196,857 from November 1999's 205,856.

The number of Japanese tourists dropped 2.4 percent last month to 147,449 from the year-earlier month's 151,027.

For November, the average length of stay was 8.71 days, an increase of 1.8 percent from November 1999's 8.55 days. The average daily census -- the number of tourists in Hawaii on any given day -- was 196,857 last month, down 4.4 percent from 205,856 a year earlier. Tourism officials watch these statistics closely as critical indicators of visitor spending.

Travel to each of the neighbor islands was lower last month.