Hawaii '07 visitor arrivals dropped 1.2%

The number of people visiting Hawaii in 2007 dropped 1.2 percent to 7,368,048, the first decline since 2003.

Visitor spending in Hawaii totaled $12.2 billion in 2007, about 1 percent more than in 2006.

Visitor spending was up .9 percent, about $103 million more than in 2006. Daily visitor spending increased 2.5 percent to $183 per person in 2007.

But with Hawaii's inflation rate running at 5 percent for most of last year, actual visitor spending came in at about $11.7 billion, about $200 million less in real dollars than in 2005.

The visitor report was released Tuesday by the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

While passenger travel from the U.S. West grew .1 percent and arrivals from Canada were up 5.3 percent, fewer Japanese and visitors from the U.S. East contributed to an overall decline.

The average length of stay remained about nine days, but total visitor days were down 1.6 percent year over year.
credited by: bizjournals.com