Tourism recovery continues
State visitor arrivals
rose 6.5 percent in March
compared with last year
March visitor arrivals climbed further out of the hole caused by last year's SARS epidemic and fears over the Iraq invasion, with both Japanese and U.S. travelers converging on the islands in greater numbers compared to March 2003.
The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism said the state hosted 576,087 visitors last month, an increase of 6.5 percent over last year. The numbers were bolstered by 410,000 visitors from the U.S. mainland, which DBEDT called the best March on record for that segment.
Marsha Weinert, the state's tourism liaison, said the growth in domestic arrivals was fueled in part by an increase in meetings, conventions and incentive travel compared to the previous year, citing a Coors Brewing Co. convention and an international dental conference.
Also contributing to the stronger March figures was an 11.2 percent increase in arrivals from Japan, with 114,523 visitors from that country.
"It is clear that the stronger yen and improved economic conditions in Japan will result in more Japanese arrivals to Hawaii in future months," Weinert said.
Gilbert Kimura, Hawaii regional manager for Japan Airlines, said Japanese travelers had shaken off fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which crimped arrivals from Japan last year.
"I think people are deciding that the SARS problem is now over," he said. "But they still want to go someplace safe and clean and, to them, that means Hawaii."
Still, March arrivals from Japan were far below the levels reached during the mid-to late 1990s, when they routinely exceeded 150,000 visitors per month. The double whammy of 9/11 and SARS caused travel from Japan to contract, and Weinert said those glory days of the past may be gone for good.
"Will we ever get back to those levels? I doubt it," she said.
Figures from previous years were boosted by large numbers of young travelers -- often groups of Japanese women traveling together, she said. But the aging of Japan has changed that demographic to a smaller but ultimately more sustainable visitor base of older people, wedding groups and families.
The March gains in visitor count were not evenly distributed throughout the state. While Oahu saw a 9.8 percent increase in visitors to 363,080, every other island saw a decline except the Big Island, which eked out a 1.2 gain.
For the entire first quarter, 1.6 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 3.8 percent from the same time last year. Domestic arrivals rose 6.8 percent for the quarter to 1.1 million.
