STAR-BULLETIN / MARCH 2006 A decline in Hawaii's visitor satisfaction may be due to weather-related problems this year, including the bursting of the Ka Loko Dam on Kauai. The dam wall broke, releasing a wall of water downstream and killing seven people.

Heavy weather dampens visitor approval slightly

Tourist satisfaction declined in the first half of this year

Although visitors were highly satisfied with their experience in Hawaii in the first half of 2006, their approval ratings declined from the year before, apparently the result of weather-related problems that plagued the state early this year.

Almost two-thirds of U.S. and Canadian visitors rated their most recent trip to Hawaii excellent, according to a visitor satisfaction survey released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. However, the state's overall satisfaction rating by these visitors fell in three out of four categories compared to the same period in 2005.

The survey, released twice a year, examines visitors to Hawaii from its top five tourism markets: the U.S. West, U.S. East, Japan, Canada and Europe. The report gathers opinions on satisfaction with their most recent Hawaii vacation, trip expectations, likelihood to recommend Hawaii, likelihood to revisit Hawaii, reasons for not revisiting Hawaii, satisfaction by island, and trip-planning timeline.

A good indicator of a high-quality experience is how many visitors' expectations are exceeded, State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert said.

"High visitor satisfaction ensures a strong visitor industry," Wienert said.

Based on the results of the latest survey, Hawaii did well with the U.S. East and Europe markets, Wienert said, with about 38 percent saying their stay was better than expected. However, the state continued to find it slightly more difficult to exceed the expectations of U.S. West and Canadian visitors, who gave exceeded-expectation ratings of about 31 percent -- mainly because more of these visitors have been here before.

The slight shift in satisfaction levels could be due in part to the weather. Heavy rains began in mid-February, then the Ka Loko Reservoir burst on Kauai on March 14, killing seven people, followed by a Waikiki sewage spill and the death of Oliver Johnson after he fell into the contaminated Ala Wai Boat Harbor.

Although the visitor industry got off to a strong start in 2006, this winter's rain and other complications were expected to cause arrivals to fall short of 2005's records, said Frank Haas, director of marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Earlier this year, state officials had to allocate more than half a million dollars for programs to override the bad publicity that spread through Hawaii's major tourism feeder markets from Europe and Japan to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, Haas said.

But Wienert noted that the visitor industry still expects 2006 visitor spending to exceed 2005 levels.

"The results confirm that the visitor industry provided excellent services and a variety of quality activities which allowed visitors to have a positive experience even with the unprecedented circumstances of rain and flooding in the first half of 2006," Wienert said.

The number of U.S. visitors who would rate their most recent trip to Hawaii as excellent fell 3.2 percentage points to 63.6 percent during the first half of 2006 from the same period in 2005. This rating dropped from 61.2 percent to 57.4 percent for visitors from Canada, from 52.4 percent to 50.8 percent for Japan and from 67 percent to 61 percent for Europe.

The number of U.S. visitors who would say that their trip to Hawaii exceeded expectations also fell during the first half of 2006 from 34.3 percent to 33.9 percent. This rating declined from 32.7 percent to 31.1 for Canada, from 30.6 percent to 29.6 for Japan and from 37.8 to 37.5 for Europe.

While the excessive rain didn't dramatically dampen overall visitor appreciation for the state, it's clear that it played a role in satisfaction levels. Kauai, which was hardest hit by the February-March deluge, was ranked lower than other islands for visitor satisfaction.

But by July, year-to-date Kauai visitor arrivals had increased 8.7 percent year-over-year, while visitor spending rose 10.2 percent, said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors Bureau.

U.S. visitors to Maui were more likely to say they had an excellent experience (71.4 percent) than visitors to Oahu or the Big Island.

The number of U.S. visitors who said that they would be very likely to visit Hawaii again in the next five years has grown to 65.2 percent from 63.1 percent during the same period in 2005. This number also rose from 51.8 percent to 53.5 percent for Canada, but it fell from 49.6 percent to 48.6 percent for Japan and from 35.8 percent to 33 percent for Europe.