Domestic
arrivals rise

Hawaii's visitor industry enjoyed another record-breaking month in August as the strength of the meeting, convention and incentive market boosted domestic arrivals by nearly 10 percent.

The state welcomed 692,254 visitors last month -- a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent -- who pumped $1.05 billion into the state's economy, the state's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said yesterday.

Visitor arrivals from the U.S. West grew 7.6 percent and those from the U.S. East gained 14.2 percent in August from a year earlier. At the same time, international arrivals were flat.

During the first eight months of the year, more than 5.02 million visitors came to Hawaii, a 7.1 percent rise from the same period in 2004.

Contributing to the record total arrivals was a 177 percent increase in meeting, convention and incentive visitors driven by large conventions in the islands, said state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert.

"We are extremely pleased with the strong performance of the visitor industry in August," she said. "We welcomed delegates from the American Legion 2005 National Convention, the Academy of Management 2005 annual meeting and the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2005 annual session.

Strong demand for Hawaii helped push the number of domestic visitors to 504,553, higher than in any previous August, Wienert said.

The state's burgeoning convention business is expected to hold throughout the year and continue next year, said Joe Davis, general manager of the Hawaii Convention Center for SMG Hawaii.

"We were virtually at full capacity in August," he said. "There wasn't much of a breather."

The West Coast visitor count was strong in August, with 313,623 tourists jetting to Hawaii. The state hosted 157,236 visitors from the eastern U.S. last month.

Increased demand from the U.S. East helped contribute to a 9.5 percent rise in visitor spending in August. Visitors from the eastern U.S. typically try to get more out of their Hawaii trips because they must fly longer to get here than West Coasters.

Some of the growth from the U.S. East is likely the result of Hawaii's expanding cruise industry. Norwegian Cruise Line's new home-ported Pride of America and its Pride of Aloha added to the increased arrivals. Cruise visitors who arrived by air increased 36.5 percent to 23,734 passengers.

Hawaii's international market, led by visitors from Japan, was flat again in August, growing a scant 0.9 percent overall to 187,701 arrivals. Competition from other destinations like China, Southeast Asia and Korea has made it more difficult for Hawaii to keep its share of the Japan visitor market, which fell 1.4 percent from the year earlier August to 142,945.

While the number of Japanese leisure travelers may have dwindled in recent times, the country's corporate incentive market still looks promising for Hawaii, Davis said.

"We're pushing for the Japanese corporate business through a direct sales effort," Davis said. "We've gotten lots of short-term bookings from that market."