Race’s Japan entries
rebound

The Honolulu Marathon, which represents a bright spot for the state's $10.6 billion tourism industry during the seasonal lull right before the winter holidays, should have even greater impact this year because of a year-over-year increase in Japanese entrants.

The Honolulu Marathon Association estimates that last Sunday's marathon drew 25,671 entries, while the race-day walk attracted 5,545 entrants.

An estimated 15,723 marathon entrants came from Japan this year, up 3.6 percent from last year, but down from 17,266 entrants in 2002. Another 4,688 Japanese visitors participated in the annual race-day walk.

In addition, the marathon had 4,035 mainlanders and 881 people from foreign countries other than Japan.

Most out-of-state participants bring one to three family members or friends with them to Hawaii, the association noted.

Last year, the Hawaii Pacific University Travel Industry Management program interviewed 1,000 out-of-state marathon and walk entrants and found an $86.8 million economic impact by the two events.

Professor Jerry Agrusa supervised the study. This year he oversaw interviews of 1,200 out-of-state entrants. His study will be released next month.