The slide continues for Hawaii's tourism industry with double-digit declines in the number of tourists to Hawaii and visitor spending in February stemming from the global economic crisis.
Visitor arrivals declined 12.7 percent compared to the same month in 2008 and visitor spending fell 15.9 percent, or by $161 million, to $852.5 million, according to a report Tuesday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
An extra day in February 2008, which was a leap year, contributed to the overall monthly decline in visitors to the state but the deepening economic turmoil was the biggest factor by far.
"Hawaii's visitor industry continued to be impacted by unstable economic conditions worldwide," state tourism liaison Marsha Wienert said in a statement. "February's results were not unexpected."
The $161 million decline in spending was due to fewer tourists and a slight drop in average daily visitor spending to $175 per person, down $5 from the previous February.
Wienert said the declines in daily spending and expenditures can be partly attributed to the value packages being offered.
There's also no question that tourists are watching their spending more carefully, cutting back on shopping. Japanese were the only ones to spend more on average per day, increasing 4.1 percent to $304.80, more than double what Canadians and West Coast Americans spent.
Air arrivals were down among the top four markets, including 15.8 percent from the U.S. East and 14.9 percent from the West Coast. Japanese visitor arrivals fell by 5.5 percent and the number of Canadians was down 6.3 percent.
Oahu experienced a 12.5 percent decline in visitor arrivals to 315,654, but total expenditures slipped just 6.1 percent to $420.1 million because of higher daily spending.
Oahu fared much better than the other islands. The smaller islands of Molokai (39.1 percent) and Lanai (36.1) experienced the sharpest declines in visitor arrivals, followed by Maui (22), Kauai (19.8) and the Big Island (17.7).
The islands, in particular Kauai and the Big Island, were hurt by the loss of the Pride of Aloha. The ship was taken out of Hawaii's interisland market by Norwegian Cruise Lines in May 2008 and renamed the Norwegian Sky for service in the Bahamas.
Total expenditures on Maui plummeted 26.1 percent, while the Big Island (21.8) and Kauai (18.1) were also hit hard.
Other findings in the report include:
- Total air seats to Hawaii declined 19.9 percent. Most of the loss were from the U.S. East (33.2 percent), followed by Canada (24.7), U.S. West (21) and Japan (11.1).
- Total visitor days were off 13.3 percent.
- The average length of stay was 9.44 days, down from 9.51 days in February 2008.
It's been a difficult year so far. Visitor arrivals for the first two months dropped 12.6 percent from the same period last year to 1,049,463.