Hotel occupancy down again

July is the third straight month that
isle hotels couldn't match 1996

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

For the third consecutive month, the state's hotel occupancy rate declined, renewing concerns about the fragility of Hawaii's economic recovery.

PKF-Hawaii, the accounting and consulting firm that tracks the state's largest industry, today said statewide occupancy in July totaled 75.75 percent, compared with 77.90 percent a year earlier.

"Statewide occupancy continues to be lower than last year, although the Big Island and Kauai saw increases for the month," said Ernie Watari, PKF-Hawaii chairman.

For the first seven months of 1997, statewide occupancy slid 2.28 percent to 74.91 percent, according to the company's survey of 136 hotels, or 56 percent of the market.

On the bright side for the industry, hotels received more money per available room in July, reversing a two-month downturn of that key industry statistic, the survey said.

Revenue per available room was $101.96 last month, up 4.42 percent from July 1996.

The average daily room rate, which tends to be higher than the actual amount hotels collect per room, also increased, jumping 7.39 percent to $134.59, the survey showed.

Waikiki hotels continued to report lower occupancies. Its July rate was 80.76 percent, down 4.98 percent. For all of Oahu, occupancy slipped more than 4 percentage points to 79.59 percent.

Maui had a drop of more than 1 point to 73.66 percent, while the Big Island saw its rate jump more than 4 points to 65.84 percent. Kauai's rate also rose more than 3 points to 77.56 percent.

Economists look to Hawaii's tourism industry as a key indicator of the health of the state's economy. Any downward trends usually raise concerns, and even before the release of today's statistics, some were suggesting that Hawaii's weak recovery already was stalling.