Visitor arrivals An earlier Pro Bowl and a continuing rebound in Japanese tourism helped boost visitor arrivals 11.6 percent in January over the same period last year, according to figures released today by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
gain ground
But the post-9/11
rebound is slowingStar-Bulletin staff
However, the rate of recovery has slowed and Hawaii tourism still has a way to go to catch up with pre-9/11 numbers. January arrivals totaled 517,141, up by nearly 54,000 from the January 2002 total of 463,357. However, the January 2003 total was still almost 38,000 below January 2001, eight months before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Total Hawaii arrivals were up year-over-year by 28 percent in September, 31.7 percent in October, 24.7 percent in November and 16 percent in December.
Total visitor days, the number of tourists times their length of stay, were up 12 percent last month, at 5.5 million compared to 4.9 million in January of last year. The average length of stay last month edged up 0.3 percent to 10.55 days from 10.51. But total visitor days were still below the January 2001 level of 5.6 million.
The state government is pleased with January's results, however.
"We appear to be successful in communicating the message that Hawaii is an enjoyable and safe vacation destination," DBEDT Director Ted Liu said. "We are doing everything possible to keep Hawaii attractive during these times of international uncertainty."
The Pro Bowl, which attracted 18,000 visitors exclusively for the game according to a Hawaii Tourism Authority survey, was pushed back to the second week of February last year due to the terrorist attacks that extended the National Football League season. This year, though, the game was held Feb. 2 and a majority of the spectators arrived during the last week of January to participate in Pro Bowl activities before the game, DBEDT said.
Japanese arrivals, which were down 2.9 percent in 2002, rose 15.4 percent last month to 122,120 from 105,814, while total Japanese visitor days increased 8.6 percent, despite a slip in their average length of stay to 5.62 days from 5.98. However, Japanese travel to the islands last month was down more than 18.5 percent compared to January 2001, when 149,892 people came to Hawaii from Japan.
Domestically, visitor arrivals increased 8.6 percent to 333,054 from 306,559, boosting domestic visitor days 9.9 percent from January 2002, to 4.13 million from 3.76 million. The average length of stay by visitors from the mainland edged up to 12.4 days from 12.26.
DBEDT, for the first time, also broke out visitors by purpose of trip. The data showed that 15,018 visitors came to attend or participate in sporting events during the month, most for Pro Bowl activities. In addition, 11,144 visitors honeymooned in the islands while 3,123 came to get married.
Oahu's visitor arrivals in January rose 10.9 percent to 336,787 from 303,763 in the previous January, Kauai gained 10.8 percent to 75,593 from 68,242, Maui increased 18.7 percent to 177,759 from 149,709, Lanai jumped 30 percent to 9,553 from 7,347 and the Big Island rose 9.3 percent to 104,089 from 95,196. Molokai was the only island to see a decrease in arrivals, dropping 6.1 percent to 9,091 from 9,685.
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
