Arrivals down
for third yearA large drop in visitors
from Japan was partially
offset by longer staysFor the third consecutive year since 2000, state visitor arrivals fell in March, largely because of a drop in Japanese tourists caused by the war in Iraq, SARS and lingering problems with the Japan economy.
Most of the decrease occurred on Oahu, while Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Lanai had more visitors than they had last year. On the Big Island, arrivals slipped 4.3 percent.
A total of 541,156 visitors traveled to Hawaii last month, down 4.7 percent from 567,870 in the same period last year, the state reported today. Visitors stayed a little longer, with the average trip lasting 9.37 days, compared with an average of 8.8 days last year.
Japanese visitor arrivals fell 16 percent to 103,009 from 122,633 arrivals last year, the state said. Even before Operation Iraqi Freedom began March 19, bookings by Japanese tourists slowed, and some visitors delayed or canceled their trips. Many Japanese do not like to travel to a country that is at war, for cultural reasons.
In April, Japanese arrivals are expected to be down by roughly 30 percent, because of the war and the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia.
"If past trends are an indication, we would expect that international visitor arrivals will continue to be slow over the next few months but we believe that the visitor arrivals from the U.S. mainland will remain steady," said Theodore E. Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Domestic arrivals in March were mixed, with an overall 1.3 percent decrease in U.S. travelers to Hawaii. Arrivals from Hawaii's largest source of tourists, the U.S. West, fell 5.1 percent last month to the lowest level since 2000. Arrivals from the U.S. East increased slightly, up 2.7 percent to 166,714 from 162,262 last year.
This month, domestic arrivals have been stronger, more than balancing out the drop in Japanese visitors, according to preliminary state data.
In March, Oahu was the hardest hit by visitor trends, with an 11 percent decrease in total visitors. Oahu's visitor counts fell from the United States as well as Japan and Canada.
But that was not the case on the neighbor islands. Maui visitor arrivals were up 1.7 percent compared with last year. Kauai had an overall 1.5 percent rise in visitors.
The Big Island received more visitors from U.S. East and Canada than last year, but a 6.3 percent drop in U.S. West arrivals reduced the total count.
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
