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Hawaii looking at tough tourist times in 2008
Hawaii’s tourism industry, concluding a year that could easily be described as flat, is bracing for a tougher 2008.
“A survey of local economists by PBN puts the estimated visitor arrival growth next year at a weak 1.1% but no one is especially confident that number will hold. It’s possible arrivals will slip for the first time since 2003,” says Pacific Business News.
Still, close to 7.5 million people are expected to visit Hawaii next year, nearly a million more than a decade ago.
“So, the big number is still in pretty solid shape, even assuming the disappearance of about 120,000 cruise ship passengers once the Pride of Hawaii departs for Europe in February, as well as a sobering 11% drop in air capacity from Japan for most of the first quarter.
What mostly worries tourism marketers and industry executives is the seesawing of the US economy. The markets are up, then down. Consumers are confused.
“You’d be crazy to not expect some kind of negative impact from fuel prices and the mortgage crisis,” said Keith Vieira, senior vice president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii.
Hotel consultant Joe Toy of Hospitality Advisors said Hawaii hotels will finish 2007 with a statewide average occupancy of 75%, which he expects to fall to 73% in 2008.
Report by David Wilkening
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