Hawaii's hotels and resorts experienced their lowest occupancy since the aftermath of 9/11 when statewide occupancy in December dropped 9.5 percentage points to 60.9 percent, according to a report released today by Hospitality Advisors LLC.

Revenue per available room—the industry's main measure of profitability—fell 17.7 percent to $129.91 from the year-ago period. Average daily room rates, which came in at $213.40, were also off 4.8 percent from the prior year.

”;The loss of two airlines serving Hawaii and a deepening global recession led to a slowdown in Hawaii's visitor industry,”; Joe Toy, president of Hospitality Advisors, said in a press release.

The dismal December occupancy rate contributed to a 4.6 percentage-point slide in state-wide occupancy for the year, which came in at 70.4 percent.

Revenue per available room ended the year at $141.90, off 5.4 percent from 2007 levels. However, the statewide average daily room rate broke through the $200 mark for the first time in 2008, growing a modest 0.7 percent to $201.43.

As a result, total revenue for Hawaii's hotel industry in 2008 fell 6.6 percent to $2.91 billion from $3.12 billion in the prior year. While Hawaii's occupancy ranked second only to New York City in 2007, last year's downturn pushed it into fifth place for occupancy behind New York City, San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles.