Isle tourism
from Japan risingBut flat arrivals from
the mainland cause a
drop in visitor levels
Japanese visitor arrivals have improved markedly from the tourism drop-off caused earlier this year by the war in Iraq and severe acute respiratory syndrome, though flat arrivals from the mainland led to decreased state visitor arrivals in October.
Japanese arrivals were down 4.7 percent in October from the same month last year, an improvement from the 40 percent year-over-year drop seen in May.
"There's light at the end of the tunnel," said Karen Hughes, regional director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which manages Sheraton and Westin resorts in Hawaii.
The state Hawaii Tourism Authority expects Hawaii will finish the year with 1.3 million Japanese arrivals, down 11.3 percent from last year and way off from a record 2.15 million Japanese arrivals in 1997. It's hard to say when Japanese arrivals will return to levels seen before Sept. 11, 2001.
"We have bottomed out, but it's a matter of how far we rise out of the cellar," said Frank Lavey, general manager of the 1,230-room Hyatt Regency Waikiki. A major international incident could change the picture, but Lavey said he's optimistic heading into the new year.
Overall, 504,971 visitors came to Hawaii in October, down 1.5 percent from 512,613 visitors last year, and down 9.6 percent from 558,585 arrivals in October 2000.
Arrivals from U.S. cities last month were flat, with 344,086 domestic visitors coming here, representing 68 percent of total arrivals.
Arrivals from both the U.S. East and U.S. West have slowed somewhat from earlier this year, though the state expects to have more visitors from those markets this year over last year.
"We have seen an increase in the Japanese market and we've seen the student groups coming back, and that's a good sign," because parents are letting their kids travel, said Carlton Kramer, vice president of sales and marketing for retailer Hilo Hattie. For the Japanese, safety and security in travel is a major concern, and state tourism officials say Hawaii has benefited from its reputation as a safe place.
Another positive trend is that the yen has strengthened substantially in the latter half of this year to a three-year low against the U.S. dollar, which enables Japanese visitors to have more purchasing power.
From January through September, Japanese visitor spending in Hawaii was down 13.2 percent from last year, though it has been improving with better visitor arrivals.
Hyatt's Waikiki retail and restaurant revenues have improved along with hotel room revenues, Lavey said. Most Japanese visitors stay in Waikiki.
"We've seen a pretty healthy rebound since the beginning of August, around the Obon (festival) period," Lavey said. "The numbers aren't staggering, but they're better than where they were prior to August."
Arrivals for each island were negative in October, with a 3.1 percent decrease in Oahu visitors, a 1.2 percent slip in Maui visitors, a 7.9 percent drop in Kauai visitors and a 9.3 percent fall in Big Island visitors.
Hotel occupancy was flat in October at 70.7 percent statewide, with mixed results by island. Northern Kauai had the highest occupancy, at 80.3 percent, according to the latest monthly survey from PKF-Hawaii, released yesterday.
The total number of cruise ship visitors fell 6.2 percent to 22,626 in October, though the number of cruisers has risen 2.4 percent in the year-to-date. Some 57 cruise ships have toured the islands this year, up from 52 last year.
The state tourism authority expects visitors will spend $10.2 billion in Hawaii this year, up 3 percent from $9.9 billion last year.
The state tourism authority has targeted visitor arrivals and spending to rise next year, when private companies will take over the job of marketing the islands to international tourists from the nonprofit Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau. The bureau will focus on mainland visitors and business travelers.
Starting soon, ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro will be the spokesman in a Hawaii marketing campaign in Japan, to be called "six islands, six surprises," which is meant to tell Japan visitors that there's more to do here than shop and lie on the beach. Japanese overseas travelers have become more sophisticated and have different reasons for traveling, according to Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, which will market Hawaii to Japanese tourists.
Hawaii Tourism Authority officials said yesterday they plan to ask the Legislature to lift a cap that restricts the agency's budget to $61 million, primarily so it can spend more to revitalize what the islands have to offer. Such efforts would include fixing park trails and boosting activities, said Rex Johnson, chief executive of the HTA.
