Hawaii National Parks Visitors Down 11 Percent in March

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There were 46,447 fewer visitors to Hawaii’s national parks in March, down 11 percent from 423,751 in 2008 to 377,304, according to monthly data from the National Park Service, The Pacific Business News reported recently.

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which includes the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii’s top tourist attraction, as well as the USS Utah Memorial, USS Oklahoma Memorial, six chief petty officer bungalows at Ford Island and mooring quays F6, F7 and F8, experienced a 13.1 percent decline in visitors in March, from 132,975 visitors in 2008 to 115,543.

At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, there were 5.2 percent fewer visitors in March, 112,830 visitors in 2008 compared with 106,948 visitors this year.

Visitor counts at Kalaupapa (Molokai) and Kaloko Honokohau (Big Island) were nearly flat at 5,293 and 8,427, respectively.

Visitor counts for March were down 21.9 percent from 47,376 in 2008 to 36,997 at Puuhonua o Honaunau (Big Island).

Haleakala National Park on Maui saw a 13.3 percent decrease in visitors in March, down from 107,714 visitors in 2008 to 93,414 this year.

The only increase was seen at Puukohola Heiau (Big Island), where visitor counts were up 16.9 percent from 9,135 a year ago to 10,682 visitors in March.

Year to date, Hawaii’s national parks have seen 9.1 percent fewer visitors, down from 1.2 million in 2008 to 1.1 million this year.