Arrivals fall
as traffic from
mainland eases

The first drop-off in westbound
visitors in 13 months is 'a concern,'
a tourism official says

Smaller planes also may hurt

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A drop in travelers from the mainland -- the first year-over-year decline since March 1998 -- pulled Hawaii's total visitor arrivals down 3.7 percent last month from the year-earlier month.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism today said a 1.9 percent April decline in westbound arrivals -- mostly from the mainland and Canada -- exacerbated the continuing fall-off in eastbound arrivals, which were down 7.1 percent.

Seiji Naya, DBEDT director, called the April figures disappointing and said part of the decline in eastbound travel could be attributed to the Japanese Golden Week holidays falling mostly in May this year, with only two days coming April compared with six last year.

"However, the drop in westbound visitors is a concern," he said.

Tourist business from the mainland, which has been strong, is expected to surge back so that arrivals could still surpass those of 1998 as the year continues, Naya added.

For 1999 through April, the state has counted 2.256 million arrivals, down 0.1 percent from 2.259 million in the same period last year. Despite April's decline, year-to-date westbound arrivals are up 5.1 percent from last year's pace. Eastbound arrivals are 8.9 percent lower for the first four months of 1999.

Last month, the Japanese and other Asia-Pacific residents who make up the eastbound segment of Hawaii's tourist market stayed slightly longer on average than they did in April 1998, 5.51 days vs. 5.38 days.

But the average stay in the westbound segment slipped slightly to 9.23 days from 9.27 days in April 1998. The overall length-of-stay average was up only 0.8 percent at 8.02 days last month, compared with 7.95 days in the year-earlier month.

That slight increase failed to counter the overall drop in numbers so the visitor-days figure -- the number of visitors multiplied by the average number of days stayed -- was down 2.9 percent. Economists consider the visitor-days figure important because it shows how much opportunity tourists have to spend money in the islands.

Last month's visitor-days total of 4.32 million was down by about 140,000 from 4.46 million in April 1998. Put another way, on the average day last month there were 4,340 fewer tourists in the islands than there were in April 1998.

Overall, the islands had 538,330 visitors last month, down by 20,550 from 558,880 in the previous April. The westbound total of 362,660 was down by 7,100 from 369,760 and the eastbound total of 175,670 last month was down by 13,450 from 189,120 in April 1998.