Kaua’i greeted fewer than one million visitors last year for the first time since the post-Hurricane ‘Iniki lean years. Just over 74,000 visitors came to the island in December, a drop of 8.4 percent, leading to a full-year arrival total
Kaua’i greeted fewer than one million visitors last year for the first time since the post-Hurricane ‘Iniki lean years.
Just over 74,000 visitors came to the island in December, a drop of 8.4 percent, leading to a full-year arrival total of 972,629, off 3.3 percent from full-year 2002 totals, according to figures from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
“The drop off could be attributed to the foreign market and their economies,” said Margy Parker, executive director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association. “Their exchange rates, which have now turned around, suffered early on.”
International visitors to Kaua’i in 2003 totaled 112,456, down almost 28 percent from the 155,000 international arrivals in 2002.
In December of last year, international arrivals to Kaua’i were down 49 percent, with the biggest decline coming among Japanese visitors (64 percent).
“In general, the Japanese market has been off for a while,” said Parker. “A lot of it has to do with their economy. Also, new inter-island airfare schedules have made travel more difficult for them,” she added.
“It just isn’t practical anymore.”
As occurred with statewide arrival figures, while arrival numbers were down, the state’s most-watched tourism statistic in recent years, visitor-day figures, which tracks both the number of visitors and how long they stay, rose 3 percent last year.
Kaua’i showed growth, 11.9 percent, in U.S. East visitor days (182,143) for December of 2003. For all of 2003, there was an increase of 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in visitors from the U.S. West and U.S. East who stayed on Kaua’i exclusively.
Kaua’i also had an increase (7.11 days) in average length of stay in 2003 for all domestic visitors.
“As far as I know, we did not break seven days in our length of stay as long as I’ve been be promoting tourism,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director for the Kauai Visitors Bureau.
“The Kaua’i-only numbers are excellent from both the U.S. West (west of the Rocky Mountains) and U.S. East. That means those coming are staying only on Kaua’i, and they are staying longer,” Kanoho said.
According to state tourism figures released recently by DBEDT, a spurt in Mainland visitors to Hawai’i was offset by a sharp decline in international arrivals in 2003.
In all, about 6.35 million visitors came to the state in 2003, down about 400,000 people, or 0.7 percent, from 2002.
But the state’s visitor-days figure, which tracks both the number of tourists and how long they stay, rose three percent in 2003, because of an influx in Mainland visitors taking longer vacations.
“Even with the challenges that faced travel in 2003, Hawai’i was able to excel,” said Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison.
For all of Hawai’i, international arrivals dropped 9 percent in 2003. The number of Japanese visitors, 71.7 percent of all foreign tourists last year, dropped 11.1 percent as fears of travel proliferated during the Iraq war and the outbreak of SARS.
Wienert added that the signs of growth in Mainland visitors might refocus marketing attention away from foreign locales, though not Japan.
She said tourists who must obtain visas to enter the United States have become a tougher market, while Mainlanders swayed from international trips are a more lucrative target.
“We’re still perceived to be foreign enough in nature,” Wienert said. “With their decrease in foreign travel, Hawai’i will garner a lot of that particular business.”
Tourism officials are forecasting significant increases in visitors for 2004 for all of Hawai’i, and Japan tourism officials are expecting many more Japan residents to travel abroad in 2004.
