As we approach the end of the year, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has released figures on tourism for all Hawaiian islands through November.
On Molokai, arrivals are down 31.5 percent to about 44,100, compared with the same period last year. On Maui, Kauai and the Big Island arrivals were down an average of about 10 percent, while that number is 5 percent for Oahu.
Molokai has also suffered large drops in visitor spending, down 34.6 percent to $22.5 million. Visitor spending on the other main Hawaiian islands, while down from last year, has dropped between 10.9 percent and 14.4 percent.
One other sharp decline of note: The number of international travelers visiting Molokai has dropped 60 percent to 6,800 year over year through November.
The November tourism statistics were released Monday by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and can be viewed at www.hawaiitourismauthority.org.
If that’s not enough to tell us that the economy is hurting, The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that bankruptcy filings are at a four-year high in Hawaii. There have been a total of 2,906 bankruptcies filed in U.S. District Court to date, an increase of 829 from the same time last year.
The bulk of the filings were for Chapter Seven personal bankruptcy, with most of those by people who had gone through their savings and were at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. A number of notable business bankruptcies have also taken placed this year, including the parent company of Ala Moana Center, the Honolulu Symphony, Hawaii Biotech, and the parent company of the Hawaii Superferry.
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