Tourism officials lower ambitions

HONOLULU — State tourism officials aim to lure 8.4 million travelers to the islands this year, instead of the 8.7 million targeted earlier, David Uchiyama, Hawaii Tourism Authority vice president, said Wednesday.

The less ambitious goal comes after several months of slowing growth in the state’s biggest industry, but it’s still 2.5 percent higher than the record number of visitors who came to Hawaii last year.

Last week, the agency released data showing visitors spent 5 percent less in January than the same month last year. It was the fifth consecutive month of spending declines.

Officials said the tourism economy is starting to plateau after two years of record-breaking growth. Fluctuating exchange rates, growing competition and the increasing cost of a Hawaiian vacation have all contributed to the slowing trend.

“Demand for the destination is extremely high — in fact you’ll see at all-time highest levels — but the barriers to converting that demand are also very high,” said John Monahan, president of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which markets the state to North America.

Uchiyama said the state is losing what he called “the bottom tier” of travelers from the western part of the U.S. mainland. If this lasts, he told industry professionals in a presentation of the agency’s spring marketing update, airplanes will be less full.

“Then, we lose the flights. And then, we don’t have the seats to fill the hotels. It’s a vicious cycle going forward,” Uchiyama said.

Arrivals from Japan, the biggest source of travelers to Hawaii from abroad, are expected to rise 6.3 percent this year. But Japanese travelers will be spending less and staying on the islands for shorter periods, said Eric Takahata, who leads promotional efforts in Japan.

Takahata attributed this to a weaker yen, which gives Japanese less buying power in dollars, a planned increase in Japan’s national consumption tax, fewer seats on flights to Hawaii and higher fuel surcharges for flights.

Tourism officials aim to bring about 30 percent more visitors to Hawaii from China, the state’s fastest growing market segment.

University of Hawaii economists predicted 0.7 percent more visitors will come to the islands this year than last, a slower rate of growth than the 2.5 percent increase marked in 2013 and the 9.7 percent jump experienced in 2012.

Next year, Uchiyama said he expects U.S. leisure travel to fall off in a continuation of current trends. He said the industry needs to “get aggressive on pricing.”