Maui County welcomed 1,068,804 visitors in the first six months of 2010.
While that was a gain of 7.1 percent over the year before, it was far below the 1.3 million or more than would have been expected in a nonrecession half year.
Visitor counts and the visitor industry took a nosedive in mid-2008 and have been recovering since late 2009. Statewide, the number of total visitors by air was up 5.8 percent to 3.3 million in the first half of the year, with the number of visitors by air to the state in June rising 13.6 percent to 625,522.
Among positive indictors is the increase in air seats to the islands. The first half of the year gain at Kahului Airport has been 10.6 percent more than 2009, with the statewide gain at 4.4 percent.
State Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert said she saw other positive signs in a "healthy summer travel season" - higher per person per day spending and higher overall visitor spending for the second month in a row.
The whole state took part in the decline, but the Neighbor Islands were more affected, for a variety of reasons. But it looks as if the very long-term balance of island tourism is reasserting itself.
For at least 25 years, Oahu's visitor count has been double Maui's, and Maui's count has equaled that of Kauai and the Big Island together.
Even after Hurricane Iniki wrecked Kauai's visitor base, reversing the relative positions of Kauai and Hawaii, the overall ratio didn't change.
The half-year numbers show the proportions have returned to close to normal, although with lower totals than in the record year of 2007: 2,045,977 visitors to Oahu nearly doubles the 1,068,804 to Maui, which in turn is not quite double the total of 628,696 to Hawaii County and the 466,313 to Kauai.
"Kauai, Maui and the Big Island benefited from a healthy 7.3 percent increase in visitors from the U.S. West, with 53 percent spending their entire stay on Neighbor Islands in June," Wienert noted.
Maui struggled somewhat more deeply than any other county in the early stages of the recession. Industry managers pointed to a couple of reasons: Even before the national and worldwide recessions broke out in full, the collapse of ATA and Aloha airlines hit tourism hard. Maui, which was relatively more exposed, felt it more.
Also, as the most expensive island, Maui was perhaps the first destination that penny-watching tourists struck off their lists of Hawaii possibilities.
For the past year, aggressive rate cutting by hoteliers has helped buoy occupancy rates on Maui, and perhaps saved some jobs, although it has not done as much for revenue.
International tourism, relatively less important on Maui, held up better overall, and continues to do so.
"A robust 33.5 percent increase in international visitors, who primarily stay on Oahu, was led by a dynamic 47.8 percent increase in Japanese visitors," Wienert said. "It is also encouraging to continue to welcome more visitors from developing tourism markets in Asia, specifically Korea, China and Taiwan."
On Friday, the Maui Visitors Bureau will review its marketing efforts of the past year and explain the strategy for next year in a meeting at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. Jay Talwar of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and MVB Executive Director Terryl Vencl will be the featured speakers.
"We are expecting Hawaii's summer season to continue to outpace last year, thanks to the successful marketing campaign plans that have been implemented with our travel partners," Wienert said. "Although we still have a ways to go to make up for what has been lost during these challenging economic times, our visitor industry is on the right path and there is reason for increased confidence in Hawaii's economic recovery."
In head count, Maui has led the way, relatively, with an increase of 7.1 percent this year.
Oahu follows at 5.2 percent. Hawaii is up 2.1 percent and Kauai 1.1 percent. Figures from Hospitality Advisors show that price cutting has been less aggressive on those islands, at least in room rates.
The visitor numbers are compiled for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Its president, Mike McCartney, noted that arrivals and spending are up for seven consecutive months statewide. Spending is up 7.8 percent.
The biggest gain has been in business from Japan, despite troubles in that nation's international air carriers and the swine flu scare that depressed travel outside Japan for a time last year.
Total visitor spending so far this year has reached $2.58 billion on Oahu, $1.5 billion in Maui County, $680 million on the Big Island and $530 million on Kauai. Statewide, spending was 7.8 percent higher at nearly 5.3 billion.
However, one place that has not participated at all in the revival is Molokai. Its half-year visitor count is down 2.1 percent to 24,235 this year, and spending, while up 3.3 percent, is a negligible $12.8 million.
Lanai visitors are up 6.1 percent to 33,343, although spending on the most expensive isle is down 9.5 percent to $28.5 million.
June was somewhat atypical of the half-year trends.
Oahu enjoyed a big bump in arrivals, up 18.3 percent to 390,206. So did Molokai, up 17.4 percent to 4,208.
Maui island, leading the pack for the half-year, trailed in June, up only 5.9 percent to 186,849. That was almost the same as Kauai, up 5.8 percent to 92,845. Hawaii was up 8.9 percent to 116,254, and Lanai was up 7.8 percent to 5,837.
HTA always advises to take the Molokai and Lanai figures as imprecise, since they are based on surveys, not nose counts, and the sample sizes are small.
However, although head counts were out of whack in June, spending patterns were more like the year-to-date experience.
Visitors to Maui spent $165.70 per person per day, a gain of 12.4 percent, more than double the rate of increase in head count.
On Oahu, spending grew more slowly than head count, up 7.2 percent to $163.10.
On Kauai, spending was up 6.7 percent per person per day to $148.90, and on the Big Island it was up 6.2 percent to $154.10.
Spending on Molokai was down 13.5 percent to $111.10, and on Lanai it was down 37.5 percent to $181.60.
* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
