While the average daily room rate continues to fall for Hawaii's beleaguered hotel industry, the islands remain competitive with other international island destinations, according to a hotel flash report released today by Hospitality Advisors LLC.

Statewide occupancy rose 3.4 percentage points to 66.5 percent in January.

However, continued price discounting led to a 10.4 percent drop in the average daily room rate (ADR) to $176.88 and a 5.6 percent drop in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to $117.63, the hotel report said. Overall, statewide room revenue in January fell by an estimated $9.3 million to $206.7 million.

“;The positive January 2010 results reflect a continuation of the recovery trend that began during the last quarter 2009,”; said Joseph Toy, president and chief executive officer of Hospitality Advisors. “;Preliminary February results also appear stronger than the prior year, which bodes well for our 2010 first-quarter winter busy season.”;

Hawaii's hotel industry, which finished the year among the top international island and country destinations, appears to have recovered some demand, and the trend is expected “;to strengthen during the longer summer season,”; Toy said.

Oahu ended 2009 with a 73.3 percent occupancy, leading Toy's top-10 occupancy ranking for competitive islands, which also included Maui and Kauai. Ranked in the middle of island destinations with the best ADR were Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. And despite double-digit drops in RevPAR, Maui, Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island were among the 10 best-performing islands.

Likewise, when compared with the 2009 occupancy of selected countries, Hawaii ranked fifth for the year. While South Korea topped the list for best occupancy, Hawaii ranked first in ADR and second in RevPAR. Toy also compared Hawaii to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, China, Mexico and the Caribbean.

“;The results show that Hawaii has been able to retain its competitive market positioning during this extraordinary global industry downturn,”; Toy said.