Holiday travel from
mainland rises 10%

The isles' strong season
is echoed across the nation

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Hawaii's visitor industry as more Americans are warming to the idea of winter travel.

"It's going to be a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Business is very solid." David Carey President, Outrigger Enterprises

Business from the mainland is up 10 percent this season, and tour operators are having to turn away customers because there are few seats left on planes bound for Hawaii, according to Ken Phillips, staff vice president for Pleasant Holidays LLC, Hawaii's largest package operator.

"This is a better year than the last three," Phillips said. "There may still be a few hotel rooms, but all the airline seats are used."

Hawaii's strong holiday season is echoed throughout the United States. After experiencing relatively flat growth during the past two winters, leisure travel in December, January and February is expected to grow a healthy 2.5 percent over last winter, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, a nonprofit organization representing all sectors of the $555 billion travel industry.

"This looks to be a great season for travel," said William Norman, president and chief executive of TIA. "The economy continues to move along at a steady pace, and consumers are becoming more confident. As such, travel remains high on Americans' activity list."

For Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Christmas week bookings are up 2 to 3 percentage points over last year, and the week will be the single biggest revenue maker of the year, said David Carey, president and chief executive of parent company Outrigger Enterprises.

"It's going to be a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year," Carey said, adding that demand for holiday accommodations is so high that few properties will be discounting. "Business is very solid."

While visitors from San Francisco and Los Angeles lead arrivals, more visitors from the higher-spending Eastern and Midwestern states also are coming, Phillips said.

Domestic travel by Americans this holiday season, especially during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day, is projected to be especially strong, according to AAA. And, especially pertinent to Hawaii, more than 8.6 million Americans, or 14 percent of holiday travelers, expect to travel by air, up 3.5 percent from last season, a recent AAA forecast stated.

While domestic travel will carry this holiday season, Hawaii's arrivals from Japan will fall. The worldwide number of overseas travelers from Japan is projected to rise .08 percent to 591,000 this holiday season, but only 62,000 are likely to visit Hawaii during the Christmas-New Year's holiday period, said Japan's biggest travel agency, Japan Travel Bureau Inc.

Holiday travel to Hawaii by the Japanese is projected to fall 15.1 percent this year as Korea, China and Europe edged the islands out of a top-three spot for foreign destinations, according to a new survey conducted by JTB. The bookings surveyed covered the period that started yesterday and runs through Jan. 3.

Hawaii has experienced a slowdown in growth in recent years but "is still far from losing its attraction as the place to spend an enjoyable and relaxing time with the family at the year end and New Year," JTB said.