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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Some 682,634 visitors came to the Hawaiian Islands in January and spent $1.37 billion on a non-seasonally adjusted basis while they were here.
Hawaii’s record tourism numbers of the last two years are turning into a distant memory.
The protracted slump in the state’s top industry continued its downturn in April as visitor arrivals for the month slipped 0.7 percent from the year-earlier period and spending declined 2.2 percent, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Spending, considered a harbinger of the industry’s health, has now declined for eight months in a row.
Visitors from the U.S. West, the state’s No. 1 market, fell 1.4 percent and tourists from Japan, the top international market, declined 1.6 percent. Overall, the number of visitors to Hawaii fell to 662,553 from 666,959 in April 2013.
Despite the lower numbers, U.S. West visitors did spend 2.9 percent more in April than the same period a year ago but U.S. East visitors spent 6.9 percent less. Overall spending declined to $1.08 billion from $1.10 billion.
Through the first four months of this year, arrivals are down 2.6 percent and spending is off 2.9 percent.
