22% Dop in Visitors to County in July

(Reprinted from the Maui News August 28, 2008)

Maui County just barely topped 200,000 visitors in July - a drop of 22 percent from July 2008.
The other Neighbor Islands did as poorly, although Oahu's head count dropped only about half as fast. It was down 12.2 percent to 390,362.

Spending also dropped. Maui island totaled $233.8 million, down 27.4 percent, according to the monthly report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
The multiple negatives affecting the visitor industry have finally taken firm hold.

"Prior to June and July, Hawaii's visitor market had managed to weather the softness that was being felt by other travel destinations as a result of the slowing national economy," Marsha Wienert, the state tourism liaison, said.

The failure of Aloha and ATA airlines had an obvious impact, but Wienert said the withdrawal of two Norwegian Cruise Line ships were nearly as damaging.

"As an example," she said, "45 percent of Oahu's decline in arrivals can be attributed to decreased cruise visitors. The same holds true for the Neighbor Islands, where 83.7 percent of Kauai's, 46 percent of Maui's and 65 percent of the Big Island's decrease . . . are attributable to the decrease in cruise visitors."

The sharp declines of the past two months are now big enough to start moving the year over year averages, which had held up pretty well.

Spending statewide for the first seven months of 2008 has dropped 5 percent compared with 2007, to $7 billion - although that still is a billion dollars a month.

The average amount spent per visitor per day statewide continues to rise, though slowly. It is up $1 to $180 for the first seven months of the year.

The state is taking heart from growth in foreign markets, by double-digit percentages in the case of travelers from Oceania and Canada.

Although Maui's Canadian visitors have jumped more than 10 percent this year, the county's visitor market is predominantly domestic. In July, domestic arrivals outnumbered international by 179,911 to 18,209.

International arrivals held up better, but despite the contribution of Canadians they still were down 13.8 percent.

Oahu, which was at a disadvantage between 2003 and 2007 compared to Maui, because of its heavier dependance on foreign visitors, is now enjoying an advantage over the Valley Isle. International arrivals are down on Oahu, but by only 3.9 percent.

For several years, the Maui Visitors Bureau has worked to expand Maui's catchment area away from the western states, and this has had some success: this year visits from eastern states are more than 400,000, while visits from western states are more than 600,000.
Both are down by equal percentages, though - about 14 percent.

Canada has contributed 112,138 to Maui's total head count of 1,414,051. That's a drop, year-to-date, of 10.9 percent.

On Tuesday, DBEDT also released its final summary of 2007 visitor statistics. It was a record year, although the pace of growth slowed from the very fast growth of 2004-2006.
Spending was up 2.6 percent last year to a record $12.8 billion and visitor-days were up 0.3 percent to 70.1 million although total visits were flat at 7,627,819. Total visits in 2006 was 7,628,118.

For Maui, the numbers were up slightly: 2,580,361 in 2007 to 2,536,410 in 2006.

The complete report is at www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitors-stats/visitor-research.

Phoenix-Hawaii Options Dwindle

Other carriers' fares apt to rise amid ATA bankruptcy
Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 4, 2008 12:00 AM
azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0404biz-hawaii0404.html

Gilbert travel agent Minnie Hodge scrambled Thursday to rebook a Valley couple's July trip to Hawaii in the wake of ATA Airlines' sudden shutdown.

She found seats on US Airways but at a price: $300 more per ticket.

Hodge worries it's a sign of things to come, with the number of airlines offering daily non-stops from Phoenix to Hawaii cut by one-third overnight. Tempe-based US Airways and Hawaiian Airlines also offer the flights.

Travel agents see ticket prices to Hawaii rising unless additional flights are added or demand falls because of the economy or other factors.

"I think fares are going to go up partly because they can go up," said Matt Saczawa, co-owner of Classic Travel in Scottsdale.

He and Hodge said demand to visit Hawaii is strong year-round and often off the charts during school breaks and summer vacations, when many flights sell out.

It's a popular family and honeymoon destination, and the non-stop service flies to the island paradise in roughly the time it takes to fly to the East Coast. For some families, it has become an annual vacation, in contrast to the once-in-a-lifetime trip it historically had been, airline officials say.

Two additional factors drive demand today: Travelers don't need a passport like they do for Mexico and the Caribbean; and they don't have to deal with the weak dollar, which is spiking the cost of travel to Europe.

"Whenever there's any kind of a problem in Europe, we see our Hawaii and Mexico business go up," Saczawa said.

Indianapolis-based ATA, which had been shrinking its operations and finally succumbed after it lost a military contract, offered daily service between Phoenix and Honolulu and Maui, and was best known for its relatively low fares.

"People are definitely cringing who have already purchased tickets," said Hodge, a travel adviser with A World of Travel in Gilbert.

US Airways said it has no plans to add new service to Hawaii beyond a previously planned 25 percent increase in capacity this summer, which works out to an additional 1.5 trips per day over last summer.

The airline has the most extensive service between Phoenix and Hawaii, with daily flights to Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.

The airline told employees it doesn't have plans to add more service in the wake of ATA's demise because the combination of too many flights and $100 oil is what doomed ATA and, earlier this week, Aloha Airlines.

Aloha did not offer service between Phoenix and Hawaii, but many local travelers flew Aloha among the Hawaiian islands.

Hodge said the couple she had to rebook for the July trip were hit by both the ATA situation and Aloha.

"We're barely recovering from Aloha, and now we're hit with another one," Hodge said.

Hawaiian, which offers daily non-stop service to its Honolulu hub and connecting service to the outer islands, has no plans to add additional Phoenix flights, a spokesman said. However, the airline is adding daily service from Oakland, another ATA Hawaii stronghold.

Travel agents said customers seeking the lowest fares to Hawaii in the absence of ATA likely will find it on connecting flights. United is the biggest player in that arena out of Phoenix, with frequent one-stop service to Hawaii via Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The collapse of ATA and Aloha likely will have other implications, too. ATA sold seats through vacation wholesalers such as Apple Vacations, so their flight options suddenly are more limited, too.

On the frequent-flier front, if ticket demand surges at Hawaiian, US Airways and other carriers, they are likely to further limit availability of free seats for cashing in miles.

Southwest frequent fliers lose Hawaii as an option outright with ATA's demise because the free Hawaii flights in the airline's frequent-flier program were on ATA.

The two have had an extensive partnership since ATA was in bankruptcy the first time in 2005. Southwest passengers could buy tickets to Hawaii on the airline's Web site, with the Hawaii portion flown by ATA.

Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said Hawaii, which required two frequent-flier awards per round trip, unlike one for other U.S. destinations, was a popular destination for award redemption but not overwhelmingly so.

The airline warned salivating frequent fliers when the partnership started that free seats to Hawaii would be tight because ATA was considerably smaller than Southwest and offered only a limited number of flights to Hawaii.

ATA Airlines Shuts Down After Filing for Bankruptcy Protection

Thursday, Apr. 3 2008

Ray Hennessey
foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/transportation/article/ata-airlines-shuts-filing-bankruptcy-protection_546847_8.html

ATA Airlines, the Indianapolis-based low-cost air carrier, shut down operations early Thursday after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company, which was founded in 1973, said it entered bankruptcy after losing a contract in its military-charter business. It was the second bankruptcy filing in the company's history, and came without warning to the hundreds of passengers scheduled to fly ATA Thursday.

Many of these travelers won't be able to get refunds for their tickets. ATA said on its website early Thursday that those who paid by credit card would have to contact their credit companies to get refunds, but those who paid cash or check would have to apply as creditors to ATA with the bankruptcy court in Indiana.

ATA operated hubs at Chicago Midway, Honolulu International Airport and Oakland International Airport.

It is the second airline to file for Chapter 11 in as many weeks. Last week, Aloha Air also shut down.

ATA's bankruptcy filing comes at a difficult time for air travelers. Just yesterday, United Airlines canceled several flights over safety issues with its Boeing 777 aircraft. That came after thousands of passengers saw their flights canceled nationwide last week as airlines like American and Delta did new safety checks.