Hawaii visitors fall 5.5 percent ADVERTISING Hawaii visitors fall 5.5 percent HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii Tourism Authority says the number of visitors coming to the islands dropped for the third straight month in November. The agency said visitor arrivals
Hawaii visitors fall 5.5 percent
HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii Tourism Authority says the number of visitors coming to the islands dropped for the third straight month in November.
The agency said visitor arrivals fell 5.5 percent from November last year to about 620,000. The declines were led by a 7.3 percent drop in travelers from the western region of the United States, which is the state’s biggest source of travelers.
Visitor spending declined for the third straight month, falling 2.1 percent to $1.1 billion. Agency CEO Mike McCartney says increasingly aggressive competition, product pricing and currency exchange rates contributed to the declines.
The number of visitors from Japan remained level compared with November last year. But spending declined 6.5 percent.
Traffic cameras hit by vandals
HONOLULU (AP) — Vandals have knocked out dozens of Oahu traffic cameras for the second time in two months. Officials believe copper thieves are responsible even though there’s no copper to be stolen.
The vandals ripped out the fiber-optic cables that support the cameras under the H-1 Freeway. The damage was discovered early Wednesday.
The vandalism took place at a site near Middle Street and it disabled feeds from 18 cameras in Kaneohe and at least 16 in Pearl City.
Cameras knocked out in Pearl City include some that normally show traffic conditions on H-1. Damages are estimated to total at least $10,000.