Happy days returning
for tourism industryArrivals rose 6 percent
in February, though
foreign visits decreased
Hawaii's tourism industry enjoyed one of its best gains in more than a year as the statewide visitor count jumped 6 percent last month.
Benefiting from strong attendance from last month's NFL Pro Bowl and record travel from the U.S. mainland, the number of visitor arrivals in Hawaii increased to 531,316 from February 2003's 501,206, according to figures released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
The results for February represent the largest percentage increase since January 2003, when visitor arrivals rose 11.6 percent.
"We are very encouraged to see continuous strong performance from our domestic segment," said State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.
"Daily arrivals from the U.S. mainland in February were the best February results on record, with an average of 12,600 visitor arrivals each day."
Westbound arrivals rose 11.4 percent from the year-earlier's 328,519 to a February record of 366,088 visitors. The international market dropped 4.3 percent to 165,228 from February 2003's 172,741.
The state said the Pro Bowl attracted 22,000 visitors up from 18,000 last year.
The state also benefited from several large conventions, including the Cisco Partner Summit Conference, which attracted 3,000 attendees, and the World Aquaculture Society Tri-Annual Meeting, which attracted 2,300 attendees.
