ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

The Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism released its tourism figures today, showing a sharp decline in visitor numbers for the month of April. Total visitors to the Islands dropped by 7.6% last month. Visitors from the west coast of the US, the largest visitor segment in Hawaii, saw a 15% decline. California alone posted a 24.8% decline in tourists flying to the Islands. Advanced bookings for the year have slowed, while cancellations have increased as well. Japanese visitor numbers, the highest spending segment of the market, also declined. Tourists from Japan fell by 15.3%.

Some of the decline reflects the loss of air capacity to the Islands. The closure of Aloha Airlines and ATA Air meant a 15% drop in the number of seats and other airlines are cutting back flights due to the high cost of fuel. Higher operating costs are also forcing airlines to increase ticket prices and fuel surcharges. Both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways announced last week plans to increase their fuel surcharges on Hawaii flights by 43 percent in July.

On one bright note, the department did report a substantial increase in the number of Canadian visitors. Canadians coming to Hawaii jumped by 48%. There report also noted a 5.9% increase in average daily spending from visitors, which helped to boost revenue. In addition, April travelers stayed longer in the isles, with average length of stay increasing 2.5% to 8.8 days.

The numbers:
-Air seats: 736,079, down 15.7 percent
-Visitors: 538,428, down 7.6 percent
-Length of stay: 8.82 days, up 2.5 percent
-Daily spending: $185.60, up 5.9 percent
-Total Expenditures: $881.5 million, up 0.4 percent